Shetland Islands Council (SIC) has granted planning permission for Viking Wind Farm’s temporary main construction compound southeast of Sandwater.
The site will cover a maximum area of 250 square metres along an access track off the main A970 road. Offices, workshops, a canteen and other welfare services will be provided for the workforce along with a laydown area for storing plant, fuel, equipment and supplies during the four-year building phase of the wind farm.
Work on the main compound and its access track is expected to start later this year as an early part of the main construction programme for the wind farm. A civil engineering contractor will be appointed in the coming weeks.
The track will also form the main access route into the eastern section of the wind farm and will be open to the public to use for walking, cycling and horse-riding once the wind farm is complete in 2024.
A Viking Energy Wind Farm spokesperson said: “We are pleased to receive planning permission for the compound and hope that many Shetlanders and visitors will enjoy making use of the access tracks throughout the windfarm, once completed, for recreation and to visit parts of the islands that few people will have been through before.
“By then, the construction compound will have been removed and the ground reinstated.”
After considering the application and its accompanying Environmental Impact Assessment, SIC concluded that the compound was “acceptable in terms of its location, scale, design and form” and its use for up to five years “will not give rise to any significant or unacceptable environmental effects”.