CAMPAIGNERS are calling for councillors and senior local authority figures not to attend celebrations to mark the completion of a wind farm in Shetland.
SSE is hosting a celebratory dinner in Lerwick on Monday and an opening ceremony on Tuesday to mark the completion of the Viking Energy wind farm on the island.
The energy firm completed its £1 billion 103-turbine wind farm plus subsea connection to the national grid last week which took almost 20 years to develop from concept to being fully operational.
The completion of the project was hailed as a major step towards achieving net zero and has been labelled the “UK’s most productive wind farm”.
However, there has been criticism from residents on the island and one campaigner has set up an online petition calling for members of the Shetland Islands Council to skip the celebrations.
Laurie Goodlad Pottinger, who is a local tour guide and an outspoken critic of the wind farm, told Shetland News that by attending councillors would be endorsing practices that are “not in Shetland’s interest”.
The petition online reads: “We, the undersigned, request that our elected and appointed representatives do not attend an event celebrating a project that has caused significant division in our community.
“Alistair Phillips-Davies (CEO of SSE) has said they are already planning more projects for Shetland and stated that community benefits should not be so extensive as to make it ‘uneconomic to bring in the assets in the first place’.
“These projects lack the social license to operate here, and so should not be supported by representatives and community leaders.”
It has been reported that several councillors have already said they were “uncomfortable” with Phillips-Davies’ remarks and would not attend.
The CEO of SSE said last week after the wind farm was completed: “Shetland and the wider North Sea have long supported the country’s energy security and now they are playing a significant role in decarbonising our power system.
“But it has taken nearly two decades for these projects to move from concept to completion and if we are serious about delivering clean power by 2030 – less than 2000 days away – we need to make it much easier and faster to build this kind of mission-critical infrastructure.”
Speaking to Shetland News Green councillor Alex Armitage said: “Shetland’s renewable energy resources should be used to build wealth into our community, not extracted for private profit.
“I don’t support this model of development and have declined to attend the dinner.”
Shetland Islands Council and SSE have been approached for comment.
