Energy / Community councils exploring a stake in proposed Mossy Hill wind farm
TWO LOCAL community councils are at the early stages of exploring how they could take a share in the proposed Mossy Hill wind farm outside Lerwick.
Tingwall, Whiteness and Weisdale and Scalloway community councils, together with the Scalloway Community Development Company, are in contact with developer Statkraft to discuss what is possible.
The Norwegian state-owned energy giant behind the eight turbine, 36MW development, has always said it was keen to offer community ownership options.
A planning application is in for a substation to connect the wind farm, with a new application for the eight turbine project expected soon.
Consent was given for a 12 turbine wind farm at Mossy Hill previously, but that has since been redesigned.
Chairman of the Tingwall, Whiteness and Weisdale Community Council (TWWCC) Andrew Archer said the community would have preferred for the project not to go ahead.
However the reality is, he said, that neither TWWCC nor Shetland Islands Council will be able to stop future energy projects in Shetland, and thus it becomes a discussion about gaining at least some local benefit from it.
The most common way in Scotland to enable communities to take a stake in renewable energy projects is via lending from a commercial bank or the Scottish National Investment Bank.
To be able to do that a company controlled by the community councils involved needs to be set up with the help of government agency Local Energy Scotland.
Investments from individuals or local businesses are not envisaged.
Archer said TWWCC was taking a very pragmatic view.
“Whilst we wish that Mossy Hill wasn’t going to happen, the fact is that it will be built, the only question being whether it is the existing consented design or the revised version that Statkraft is about to apply for,” he said.
“That being the case, it then becomes a discussion about whether all the money that is made from Mossy Hill (or other developments) leaves Shetland and goes to companies such as Statkraft or whether the community takes a stake in it and keeps some of the money in Shetland.”
He added: “The council’s recent document A Fair Share for Shetland includes community ownership as one of the possible routes for Shetland to make the best of what is going to be done to us.”
“We have had some very early discussions with the council about it and the next stage is hopefully for us, SIC and Statkraft to sit down to see whether there is a community ownership model that makes sense to everybody.”
Meanwhile community councillor Andrew Blackadder said Scalloway Community Council is in the early stages of exploring the “financial, legal and structural options” and having initial discussions with relevant parties.
A spokesperson for Statkraft said: ‘‘We are engaged in discussion about the potential for community co-ownership across our projects and we welcome the positive feedback received while engaging with the local community.
“We are exploring a range of possible options to support local investment and look forward to providing further details in due course.”
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