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The numbers have been growing rather than decreasing in recent years, with 830,000 fuel poor Scottish households (33 per cent) estimated in December 2025, despite more renewable energy projects being built not only in Shetland, but across the country.<\/p>\n
SIC political leader Emma Macdonald said the council was making the case for more tangible benefits to come to Shetland households and communities from energy development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take every opportunity to engage with government and to remind them about the unfairness facing our community that produces so much energy, yet many residents are unable to afford to heat their homes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
So, who is actually benefitting from Shetland\u2019s wind?<\/p>\n
How much does one turbine make?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Viking Wind Farm (443 MW) \u2013 theoretically \u2013 can generate enough energy to power almost 500,000 households. With 103 turbines, Viking returns \u00a32.2 million per year to the local community benefit fund (SCBF), equal to the Scottish Government\u2019s suggested baseline of \u00a35,000 per MW.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u00a0It will also return up to \u00a32 million (so far unconfirmed) to the Shetland Charitable Trust<\/a> for its initial \u00a310 million investment in the project.<\/p>\n By comparison, a community-owned wind farm such as Garth in North Yell (4.5MW) generates around \u00a32 million per year with just five turbines.<\/p>\n Already a member? Sign in<\/a> to hide this message.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In other words, one Viking turbine (4.2 MW) will return around \u00a340,000 per year to Shetland\u2019s two community funds, along with local jobs, business opportunities and income to landowners and crofting tenants.<\/p>\n One wind turbine from Garth (0.9 MW), however, will generate a minimum of \u00a390,000, and up to \u00a3720,000 at full capacity, while also supporting jobs and initiatives in North Yell.<\/p>\n Can things be done differently?\u00a0<\/p>\n Yvonne \u00d6sterlund of Department of the Infrastructure at the Government of \u00c5land.<\/p>\n Though this comparison seems possible only through small-scale projects, our Nordic neighbours show us how communities can benefit from large scale wind projects too. If we look across the sea to the islands of \u00c5land, which are approximately the same size and population of Shetland, the reality here is very different.<\/p>\n The archipelago of \u00c5land is an autonomous region of Finland nestled in the Baltic Sea. These islands were historically contested between Sweden and Finland, before becoming a Finnish region with Swedish language.<\/p>\n Despite being a small island group of 30,000 people, local democracy here is strong, explains Yvonne \u00d6sterlund, senior engineer at the Department of Infrastructure at the Government of \u00c5land.<\/p>\n Since 1920, in fact, the region has been self-governing not only through the \u00c5land Parliament (Lagtinget), but also 16 councils spread across the islands.<\/p>\n Given their geographical location, the islands have become particularly interesting in the path towards a green transition, with several wind farms being built or planned both on land and sea.<\/p>\n Unlike Shetland however, \u00c5land is administered by a government with its own legislative powers, which also include matters such as the environment, energy, planning and construction.<\/p>\n \u201cThe wind power we have in \u00c5land is owned by \u00c5landers and contributes to the energy mix in \u00c5land,\u201d explains Yvonne \u00d6sterlund. There are currently 65MW of wind power with 28 turbines across different locations, all connected to the local electricity grid. The surplus electricity is sold by the local TSO to Sweden.<\/p>\n B\u00e5tsk\u00e4r wind farm in \u00c5land. These include smaller wind farms such as B\u00e5tsk\u00e4r wind farm (14 MW), as well as larger projects such as L\u00e5ngnabba Wind Farm (40 MW), the largest wind farm in \u00c5land to date, with 10 turbines.<\/p>\n And there are many more, and much larger, projects in the pipeline: among these, the Sunnanvind offshore wind farm project (up to 4,000 MW) is developed by the \u00c5land Government to maximise the benefits for the islands.<\/p>\n This will generate stable revenues to the local government through leasing and auctioning the waters, and the six local councils nearby will receive property taxes from the turbines in their area.<\/p>\n Stormsk\u00e4r & V\u00e4dersk\u00e4r (2,460 MW) is another offshore project being developed in the same area by the Finnish company Ilmatar.<\/p>\n If approved, the wind farm is expected to return at least \u00a3635 million in various forms of taxation, including property and energy tax, to the local government and municipalities, and expected to grow \u00c5land\u2019s annual GDP by 1.5 per cent throughout its lifetime. This figure excludes any seabed leases that the local government may require from the developer, which could amount to an additional \u00a37 million each year.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is special here is that we own the water,\u201d \u00d6sterlund explains. \u201cIt is not Finland that has authority over the waters around \u00c5land, but \u00c5land itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike Shetland, in fact, it is not the national state that auctions off the marine areas around the islands, but \u00c5land\u2019s local authority itself.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will strengthen public resources, which can then be distributed according to the political majority for the benefit of development and the population,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Opportunities also exist for citizens in \u00c5land to buy shares in wind turbines through \u00c5VA (\u00c5lands Vindenergi Andelslag), an association born in 1994 to offer shared ownership of \u00c5land\u2019s wind farms to locals, currently holding 1,500 members. By buying a share at the cost of 470 euros, individuals, organisations and municipalities alike can receive interests or discounts on electricity prices.<\/p>\n As our Nordic neighbours are leading the way in renewable energy that also benefits the places where it is developed, they are proving to us that this can be possible in communities as small and resourceful as Shetland itself.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/260120-community-benefit-comparison-470x362.png\")
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\nViking and Garth: local returns per turbine. Illustration: Vilhelm Thoresson<\/p>\n
Photo: Nordic Energy Research<\/p>\n
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