Harnessing Shetland's Natural Resources

Information Bank

Myth Buster

Many inaccuracies and misunderstandings circulate in local communities about wind energy whenever there are plans to build a wind farm. 

Sometimes the information is wrong because things have changed and people are quoting from old examples.  Technology has developed dramatically since the first wind farms were built.  Over the last five to ten years many lessons have been learned about how to build wind farms and where they are best located. 

Occasionally people have misunderstood or misheard something they have been told and have passed it on inaccurately.   Whatever the reason, in this section we aim to address some of the common misunderstandings and myths about wind farms in general and the Viking Energy proposal in particular.

  1. Wind power is expensive.
  2. Turbines are noisy.
  3. The wind farm will cause the release of more carbon emissions than it will save.
  4. Wind farms have a very low productivity level.
  5. The wind farm will destroy the peat on site, which is a natural carbon sink.
  6. Wind turbines kill lots of birds.
  7. Wind turbines frighten livestock.
  8. Wind farms deter tourists.
  9. The narrow, winding roads in Shetland can't handle the large structures.
  10. It's a done deal.
  11. The wind farm will cover one fifth of Shetland's Central Mainland.
  12. The Scottish Government says wind turbines should not be erected within 2km of houses because this is unsafe.
  13. Half of the power generated by the wind farm will be lost in the interconnector.














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Note: Many of the pictures on this website are of existing wind farms. For illustrations of the proposed Viking Energy wind farm click here
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