(Left to right) Project Lead for Vestas, Robert Yeates and Aaron Priest, Viking Wind Farm Stakeholder Manager
After years of advance planning with Police Scotland and Shetland Islands Council, the delivery of the first turbine components to the Viking Energy Wind Farm site successfully took place on Monday 6 February, marking a huge milestone for everyone working on the project.
From a personal point of view, and as a Shetlander, it is great to see the project reach this stage. Viking Wind Farm has been long in the making. SSE first started scoping its then Muckla Moor project back in 2002 with Viking emerging in 2003/4, when I first became involved. Since then, many skilled and dedicated people have worked tirelessly to bring it to a point where it stands poised, from 2024 and on, to become the UK’s most productive onshore wind farm.
There have been some fairly monumental challenges including planning; legal; regulatory; government policy; and construction; over the years, not to mention a global pandemic coinciding with the start of construction. The underlying constant has been the exceptional quality and value of Shetland’s wind resource – Shetland is statistically the windiest place in the UK.
Everyone in the team is now looking forward to the next big milestone, in April, when the first turbines are completed - all 103 of Viking’s turbines are scheduled for erection during 2023. The hard work will continue, unabated, and we’re all proud of helping to deliver this flagship project and what will be a pivotal part of Shetland’s, Scotland’s and the UK’s energy future.
Aaron Priest, Stakeholder Manager for Viking Wind Farm