News / Viking project not suspended
PLANS to build a 540 megawatt wind farm in Shetland are most certainly not suspended despite a government document saying it is.
Both partners in the £800 million project, Viking Energy and Scottish & Southern Energy, were adamant on Thursday that the project was on track.
A two page spreadsheet on the Scottish government’s website at www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/917/0092435.xls caused some confusion as it states the status of the project as “suspended”.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish government yesterday apologised for the confusion, saying the term “suspended” didn’t mean suspended as it was just terminology used within the government’s energy consent and development unit.
“The project is not suspended. What it means is that we are awaiting new information from the developer. The ball is not in our court.
“Once we have received the new information within the next weeks, it will trigger a new consultation exercise,” she said.
Viking Energy project co-ordinator Allan Wishart said the company was in the final stages of working on the long awaited addendum in support of the original application for planning consent.
“We submitted an application for consent in May last year. There was lots of reaction to it. We are now dealing with that and are preparing the addendum, which will go in very soon.
“The project is certainly not suspended as far as we are concerned,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Scottish & Southern Energy added that there was no change to the project.
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