Vestas, the turbine supplier at the Viking Wind Farm, has made a number of community donations across the Shetlands.

As the firm prepares to demobilise from mainland Shetland, a large 65" television from their offices has been gifted to the Wast View Care Centre in Walls, alongside a defibrillator which was given to Andrew Archer from the Tingwall, Whiteness and Weisdale community council and several other items from their suite of offices at the main Sandwater compound went to a variety of community groups.

Vestas presence on site has reduced following the installation of the wind farm's 103rd and final V117 4.3MW turbine in mid-August, this has since seen the demobilisation of office cabins.

The project remains on track for completion in summer 2024, with commissioning works progressing well. When fully operational, Viking's 443MW of installed wind-powered capacity, will be capable of generating up to 1.8TWh of renewable electricity annually – enough to power almost half a million typical British homes, including every home in Shetland.


Robert Yeates Lead Project Manager with Vestas, said: "Since completing the installation of the final turbine at Viking Wind Farm, the need for a large number of our team to be on site has reduced, meaning the requirement to have the office space we had at the start of the installation process has also decreased, therefore we've started to demobilise from site.

"At Vestas, we're always looking at ways we can contribute to the local communities in which we work. We established during the demobilisation process that we would donate spare contents from the offices to communities in Shetland which we hope they will benefit from."

Julie Graham SSE Renewables' Community Engagement Manager for Viking Energy Wind Farm, said: "We've worked closely with Vestas to deliver this large donation project across Shetland, we've seen a variety of items donated from a huge television to defibrillators (AED's), fridges and microwaves. We're proud to work with a company that cares just as much as us when it comes to giving back to the communities that we live and work in."