ASH carried out a landscape and visual impact assessment for the proposed Viking Wind Farm

In 2006 Viking Energy (a partnership which includes Scottish and Southern Energy and Shetland Charitable Trusts), appointed ASH to carry out a Landscape and Visual impact assessment for a proposed major wind farm development on the Shetland Isles.

Key Tasks

Site options appraisal

Landscape and visual impact assessment

Cumulative landscape and visual impact assessment

Photography

Photomontages

Stakeholder consultation

Public consultation

 

What we did

The initial application predicted to produce over 500MW consisted of 150 Turbines and associated infrastructure situated in the centre of mainland Shetland.

A series of preliminary consultations, surveys and assessment work was undertaken at an early stage of the project and ASH worked closely with Viking Energy in establishing and mapping constraints and optimising the layout design to help reduce potential adverse environmental effects.

ASH then carried out detailed assessments of potential impacts on the Landscape Character and Visual Amenity of the area which fed into the Environmental Statement.

The Environmental Statement was initially published in early 2009.  An addendum reducing the layout to 127 Turbines was submitted in September 2010 and the scheme was further reduced to 103 turbines in 2011 following further discussions with Scottish Natural Heritage, the planning authority and other consultees.

The development for 103 turbines, 145m to tip, was granted consent in 2012, following appeal.

Turbine technology has moved on since Viking wind farm received consent in 2012. In the last decade, the annual electricity production per turbine has almost doubled.

In 2018 Viking Energy applied for a variation to the Description of the Development to enable Viking to take advantage of the best onshore wind turbines available and maximise the output of the site. The variation reflected the proposed change to the specification of the 103 turbines that would increase the maximum tip height of the turbines, from 145m to a maximum of 155m, but would not change the footprint of the development proposed. ASH provided LVIA support for the variation, which included a turbine lighting assessment. 

The Scottish Ministers consented the scheme in May 2019.

Find out more

We’re always happy to answer your questions. If you’d like to find out more about the services we can offer for your project, you can email us on info@ashglasgow.com or call 0141 227 3388.