News / Davey keen to make Viking possible
ENERGY and climate change secretary Ed Davey has given wind farm developer Viking Energy a clear commitment that he is determined to help make its 468 megawatt project a reality.
The LibDem MP visited the small Burradale wind farm on a breezy Tuesday morning and was clearly impressed by the energy all around him.
Owned by local company Shetland Aerogenerators, which also owns a minority share in the Viking project, the five Burradale turbines are among the most productive in the world.
Mr Davey also held a question-and-answer session with pupils at Brae High School, visited the construction site of the Total gas plant, and met with representatives from Scottish and Southern Energy to learn about the company’s smart grid project for the isles.
While in the isles, Mr Davey was lobbied by the developer, which is partly community owned, over the high transmission charges it would have to pay once connected to the national grid.
Under current proposals Viking Energy would have to pay as much as £70 per installed kilowatt per annum (that’s £32 million for a 468 megawatt wind farm) to feed green energy into an interconnector cable that is still under consideration.
The company feels the renewable energy industry in Shetland is being priced out of the market by a charging regime that favours generators nearer the centres of population.
Mr Davey said he clearly had got the message but added that he also had to consider energy costs for consumers across the UK, as the cost of any significant reduction in transmission charges would have an impact on energy prices.
He said the UK government saw huge potential for renewable energy in Shetland, as well as the other Scottish islands, as this could help “clean up” power generation and would also contribute to the country’s energy security.
“I am here in Shetland to listen to Viking and to leaders of the community. Alistair Carmichael, the local MP is always bending my ear, but I wanted to come here and speak to local developers as well,” said Mr Davey.
“I am really excited by the potential here in Shetland. The fact that there is this huge onshore wind farm with nearly 500 megawatts of potential shows what can be done.
“I am hearing from islanders and from Viking Energy about their longer term ambitions and I obviously want to make that possible if I can.
“There are judgements to be made; we’ve got to balance the incentives to bring on this renewable energy with the cost for consumers on the islands, in Scotland and across the UK.
“But I wouldn’t be here if I was not trying to find a way forward.”
Viking project manager Aaron Priest he was convinced the secretary of state had got the message.
“I am very confident that the minister is acutely aware of the strong desire to develop a very productive industry here in Shetland,” he said.
“He is aware of the vast potential, and he is going away armed with the knowledge that transmission charging is a strategic issue for us, one that needs to be dealt with at the heart of government.”
The £700 million project received planning permission from Scottish Ministers in April this year. Construction could start as early as 2014.
Mr Priest said a legal challenge from local opponents to the massive wind farm did not influence his discussions with the secretary of state.
Protest group Sustainable Shetland is seeking to overturn the planning decision hoping that a public inquiry into the wind farm proposal will be granted.
The group’s spokesman James Mackenzie said the group was serious about its legal challenge.
He said: “Mr Davie has said he was here to listen to Viking Energy and to leaders of the community. I very much doubt that he is aware of the strength of opposition that there is against this wind farm, and the deep divisions in the community.
“Just because planning consent has been given by Scottish Ministers does not mean the wind farm will go ahead. I understand the developers still has to make a final decision as to whether it is being built.
“Secondly, Sustainable Shetland has lodged a petition for a judicial review regarding the manner in which this consent was granted.”
The appeal for a judicial review will be heard at the Court of Session at the end of January 2013.
Mr Davey flew to Orkney on Tuesday afternoon to visit the European Marine Energy Centre, in Stromness, before heading south again to give a keynote speech at the Low Carbon Investment Conference, in Edinburgh, on Thursday.
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