Energy / Sergeant Swoosh and Lottie among names contributed by children for Viking turbines
MORE than 30 Viking Energy wind turbines will have names chosen by local schoolchildren – with some set to be called Betty Da Blustery Birler, Sergeant Swoosh and Highway to Yell.
Pupils at Anderson High School also chose to name a turbine Lottie after Lottie Robertson, who lived in the Halfway House and passed away in 2021.
The isolated Halfway House is located near to a number of turbines in the Kames, and the Sandwater area has been busy with civil construction work over the last few years.
The 103-turbine SSE Renewables wind farm development in Shetland’s Central Mainland – which has divided opinion among local residents – is in the final commissioning stages and is set to be fully operational in the coming months.
SSE Renewables has applied to vary a planning condition relating to signage to allow name signs to be displayed on the external staircases of 32 turbines.
Planning documents say that during 2022 the Viking team carried out a series of site visits for pupils in Shetland schools, with 462 pupils from 15 different schools engaging in the process.
Pupils were able to pick a turbine to name that they felt was significant to them. In many cases this was because of the turbine number having meaning, or the one closest to their school.
Children were also able to fill a time capsule, while capsules were also offered to folk within Lerwick Port Authority, Developing the Young Workforce, the Rotary Club and SSEN Transmission.
In terms of the turbine naming, a choice of four to six suggestions were provided by each class, with the Viking team picking an “interesting and imaginative” name as the winner.
A prize has been given to the pupil who chose the winning name, and a tabletop model turbine has been provided for the classroom.
The developer added that engagement with the local community and schools was “undertaken to educate on the facts about the wind farm and climate change in a very transparent way that helped to dispel rumours, and stimulated open and honest discussions”.
“The relationships built have been sustainable and further visits to schools have taken place with over 1,000 pupils being engaged with during 2022 and 2023,” it added.
“Being able to extend that feeling of ownership would be a wonderful legacy for people, as Viking is now part of Shetland’s energy journey that places them firmly in the global response to climate change and the UK’s vision of being carbon neutral by 2050.”
Four names have come from Sound Primary School in Lerwick – Sound’s Stoor, Mill, Voar and Draatsie.
Six names came from Brae High School – JohnJ, Blade, Muckle Magnus, Pegasus, Betty Da Blustery Birler and Biggest Fan.
Bell’s Brae Primary in Lerwick provided two names – Mr Windy and Whirly.
Scalloway offered Atlas and Bluebull, with Big Spinny and Sergeant Swoosh coming from Baltasound.
The Viking team picked Fin, Theodore and Jeff from the suggestions from Whiteness Primary School, while at Mossbank the names Wind Collector and Spinny were picked.
Yell “More Wind” and Highway to Yell were selected from the offerings from Mid Yell.
Da Winday Trow and Tingwall Tottim – the Shetland word for spinning top – were picked from Tingwall.
Agent Turbine was picked from Sandness Primary School, Winston from Happyhansel and James Turbond from Ollaberry.
Trowie Knowe was deemed the pick of the bunch from North Roe, as was Gusty Gail from Whalsay.
Your Biggest Fan was the name selected from Skeld, while Lottie was used from suggestions from Anderson High School pupils.
Wind turbines having names in Shetland is nothing new; the five at Shetland Aerogenerators’ Burradale wind farm outside Lerwick are called Mina, Betsy, Brenda, Sally and Karen.
Meanwhile last year a local child also won a competition to name a proposed 500MW offshore wind farm to the east of the Shetland. The winning title was Stoura.
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