News / No change to Lottie turbine name, SSE says
Meanwhile a Viking Energy turbine is set to be named after a worker who died during its construction
A TURBINE at the Viking Energy wind farm is set to be named after a worker who died during its construction.
Turbine 29 is set to be named Liam, in tribute to 23-year-old BAM Nuttall worker Liam Macdonald, who died in 2022.
Macdonald, who was originally from the Tain area, died in an accident at the Kergord substation site.
SSE Renewables submitted a further seven turbine names to council planners after the initial 32 names – picked by school bairns from across the isles – were accepted.
Shetland Islands Council has given SSE permission to install plaques on the staircases of all of the named turbines, explaining their name and which school or organisation selected it.
Among the original 32 names are Big Spinny, Muckle Magnus and Gusty Gail.
There was controversy when the names were revealed by Shetland News in July, particularly at the naming of turbine 11 as Lottie – after Lottie Robertson, who lived in Sandwater House.
Lottie and her home, better known as the Halfway House, were regularly dragged into the debate over the construction of the Viking wind farm.
Anti-Viking group Save Shetland petitioned in 2020 for Lottie – and others whose lives had been seriously impacted by the wind farm – to receive compensation.
Despite local concern about the naming of a turbine after Lottie, SSE Renewables has confirmed the turbine’s name has not changed.
Viking Energy wind farm staff have also named a turbine, with turbine 70 to be called Njord.
Lerwick Port Authority have named turbine 94 Kebister, while Lerwick Power Station has chosen Gremista as the name for turbine 71.
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