Energy / Planning committee asked to approve Mossy Hill substation
COUNCILLORS on the planning committee will be recommended to give the green light to a contentious substation on the outskirts of Lerwick next week.
Members are being asked to approve Statkraft’s plans to build a 1.7 hectare development platform just outside Lerwick, which includes a 132kV substation, transformer equipment and electrical switchgear for SSEN Transmission.
The building would allow the proposed eight turbine wind farm to connect to the new underground cable line between Kergord and Gremista.
However a string of objections to the application were lodged, with Lerwick Community Council one of those to initially oppose the project.
While they later retracted their objection after receiving further information from Statkraft, Scalloway’s community council then raised serious concerns.
It said the buildings were “highly visible” and that the scale of the SSEN building “seems to be out of proportion with the scale of the whole development”.
Councillors at next Wednesday’s planning committee will be recommended by council planners to give the Statkraft substation the thumbs up, despite the objections.
It said that objections were received from nine different individuals and two organisations, the anti-windfarm groups Save Shetland and Sustainable Shetland.
Objections have been broken down into categories including “risk of contamination”, “evidence of need” and “ongoing costs and responsibility”.
One objector said there should be a “moratorium on new wind farm developments and substations until grid infrastructure is upgraded” to accommodate additional renewable capacity.
Another pointed to the Sandy Loch reservoir, which is Lerwick’s main water source, and said it could be polluted by turbines less than 2km away.
However council planners, in their submission which go before councillors next week, said that impacts on communities from the substation had been “found to be acceptable”.
“Significant landscape and visual impacts are not anticipated,” they wrote.
“The proposed development will not adversely impact on public access, aviation and defence interests or telecommunications and broadcasting installations.
“Impacts on road traffic, the historic environment and the water environment have been considered above and found acceptable.”
It said that the Mossy Hill wind farm had already been approved, so there were no additional risk of turbines contaminating from the substation application.
And it said – in response to complaints that there is no need for the development – that there was an acceptance that the national electricity grid needs “substantial enforcement”.
However, it said new renewables projects were “fundamental to achieving a net zeroEconomy” and “supports improved network resilience in rural and island areas.”
It also said there had been a number of pre-application consultations carried out by Statkraft to take into account the views of the public beforehand.
Norwegian energy giant Statkraft, which is state-owned, will connect the substation to its proposed Mossy Hill wind farm – which would see eight 155m turbines built just outside Lerwick.
The substation infrastructure would be located on land in between the Staney Hill quarry and the junction for the A970 road and Ladies Drive.
Statkraft has previously estimated it could have a planning decision on both its substation and wind farm plans by summer 2025.
Construction on the substation could start in the summer, with wind farm construction likely only beginning in summer 2026 and turbines arriving the following year.
The wind farm is expected to be fully up and running by autumn 2028.
If approved by the planning committee next Wednesday, the substation application will go before the full council on 10 June.
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