Building the UK’s most productive onshore wind farm to help reach net zero

When complete in 2024, Viking Wind Farm will be the UK’s most productive onshore wind farm in terms of annual electricity output^.

We’re able to achieve this because Viking Wind Farm will use 103 Vestas V117-4.2 MW turbines, each installed in 4.3 MW Power Optimised Mode, to harness the excellent wind conditions in Shetland.

As a result, Viking Wind Farm will be expected to produce 1,796 GWh of electricity per annum^, making it capable of generating enough renewable energy to power 475,099 homes annually – that’s equivalent to almost half a million UK homes including every home in Shetland^*.

So how does Viking Wind Farm compare with the UK’s largest operational wind farms?

Viking Wind Farm will have an installed capacity of 443MW, making it one of the largest installed onshore wind farms in the UK.

According to Renewable UK, which publishes an authoritative list of Britain’s largest wind farms by installed megawatt capacity, the largest onshore wind farm currently in operation in the UK is the 539MW Whitelee Wind Farm near Glasgow, Scotland, followed closely by the 522MW Clyde Wind Farm in Scotland’s Southern Uplands. When complete in 2024, the 443MW Viking Wind Farm will be the UK’s third largest wind farm by installed MW capacity.

However, the productivity of a wind farm is not just based on the installed megawatts; the overall wind resource and related output at a site – known as a relevant capacity factor – helps determine the amount of renewable energy that each wind farm will typically generate each year.

In the case of Viking Wind Farm, which will harness the immensely powerful winds blowing across Shetland, the capacity factor is expected to be one of the highest in the UK compared with typical capacity factors seen at other UK wind farm sites including Whitelee^{^^}. This means we can project that Viking Wind Farm will produce 1,796 GWh of renewable electricity per annum, enough to power between 400,000 and 500,000 homes annually – more than any other UK wind farm currently in operation^{^^}.

And how does Viking Wind Farm compare with other UK onshore wind construction projects?

Viking Wind Farm is also the largest onshore wind farm currently under construction in the UK. At an installed capacity of 443MW, Viking will be almost three times the size of the next largest onshore wind farm currently under construction in the UK, according to the latest data compiled by Renewable UK.

By building what will be the UK’s largest onshore wind farm in terms of annual electricity output, we’re playing a crucial role in contributing towards the UK and Scotland’s net zero targets.

_{^ Most productive UK onshore wind farm claim based on projected total generation output by Viking Wind Farm of 1,796.35 GWh per annum and a comparison with the leading UK operational and in construction wind farms. Projected total generation output by Viking Wind Farm of 1,796.35 GWh per annum confirmed in Environmental Impact Assessment Report for the wind farm, published here, and validated by both Shetland Islands Council and Scottish Government.}

_{*475,099 homes powered per annum based on annual GB average domestic household consumption base of 3.781MWh published by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as of November 2018, and projected total generation output by Viking Wind Farm of 1,796.35 GWh per annum. Equivalent every home in Shetland claim based on 10,235 recorded households in Shetland, published in Shetland in Statistics 2017 by Shetland Islands Council, 2018.}

_{^^ Claim based on a like-for-like calculated comparison of relevant capacity factor of at least 46% for Viking Wind Farm and published capacity factor and equivalent homes powered for Whitelee Wind Farm.}