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Plans for two onshore wind farms on the Shetland Islands are to be taken forward by a new developer following a change in ownership.
Natural resources and energy company Peel NRE, part of regeneration business Peel L&P, has sold its Beaw Field and Mossy Hill wind farm sites to Statkraft Europe's largest generator of renewable energy.
In the eight years Peel has owned the sites, it has gained consent for both wind farms as well long-term Government support through the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme to bring the developments a step closer to construction and commercialisation.
The larger 72MW (approx.) Beaw Field wind farm in Yell first received planning permission in 2017 and will have the capacity to power around 60,000 homes a year. Peel subsequently secured a variation to the consent to extend the lifetime of the wind farm to 40 years.
Proposals for an up to 12-turbine, 48MW (approx.), wind farm at Mossy Hill near Lerwick were granted planning approval in 2019 and would generate enough electricity for around 34,420 homes per year.
Rob Tate, Development Director for Renewables at Peel NRE said: "While we’ve owned these two wind farm sites a lot has changed on the Island – not least the approval of the HVDC Interconnector which helps to unlock a low carbon future for Shetland. We’ve also made great progress to secure planning consent and long-term certainty in the form of the CfD contract. We are pleased that the developments can now move forward with Statkraft and would like to take this opportunity to thank partners and stakeholders in Shetland for their support during this time.
"Statkraft already has other energy projects on the Islands and we’re confident that the company can take the Beaw Field and Mossy Hill wind farms to the operations stage. We will continue to be involved for a short period to ensure a smooth handover.
"We remain committed to our onshore wind, solar and battery storage projects under our Peel Cubico Renewables partnership to help the UK meet its net zero targets and secure its own renewable energy generation."
