All profits from Orkney windfarm will go to local services, says council | Scotland

Every islander in Orkney is expected to benefit from a major wind farm being built by the local council after winning £62 million in funding from the UK’s sovereign wealth fund.

All profits from the project to build up to 18 turbines on three islands in Orkney will be spent on local services at what is expected to be the UK’s largest publicly owned wind farm, council officials said.

Construction of the first phase, which includes the construction of six 150-metre-tall turbines near the island’s main town of Kirkwall, will start in 2027 after chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed on Tuesday that the sovereign wealth fund would cover construction costs.

The turbines, which will generate enough electricity to power around 47,000 homes, are expected to generate annual revenues of around £3.3 million to support council spending from 2028, with revenues of around £120 million over the life of the project.

Supporters said ensuring all profits stayed in Orkney to fund local services made a critical difference in winning public support.

Community leaders in the Highlands and other islands have been highly critical of the rapid development of major wind energy projects and plans to erect hundreds of kilometers of new power poles, in part because profits flow to private companies and investors.

Orkney also appears to be culturally compatible with renewable energy sources. The islands are home to one of the world’s leading centers of wave and tidal power research, have the highest levels of electric vehicle ownership in the UK and contain six smaller community-owned wind farms. Additionally, approximately 10% of homes have their own turbines.

Council leader Heather Woodbridge and Orkney’s head of enterprise and economic growth, Sweyn Johnston, said public ownership meant their plans were “much more palatable and understandable” to residents.

“This is a different model than other rural areas where the big businesses come in and the profits go elsewhere, perhaps defining the natural asset we have here,” Woodbridge said.

“Ultimately, we live, see and work near this slightly more industrialized landscape, but we also know that the money will fund your child’s schooling or a neighbour’s or relative’s social care. [makes it] It is much more palatable for local communities.”

“It’s a really powerful message,” Johnston said. “It means socializing all of that benefit in a way that ensures it’s used fairly and transparently for the people of Orkney. Local authority ownership is a much fairer thing that really benefits everyone.”

On top of the council’s income, £144,000 a year will be shared between community councils in Orkney; 60% will go to the two councils in Quanterness closest to the scheme, with the remainder split between the rest.

The council also hopes to install six turbines over the next few years on Hoy, a large island just south of Orkney’s main island, and a further six on Faray, a deserted island recently purchased by the council.

Each scheme will be 30MW in size but the Hoy project has been delayed due to a huge increase in the cost of laying subsea cables to mainland Orkney, which the council has to pay for.

Steyn said the global race to install renewable energy sources had massively increased costs and led to shortages of essential equipment and materials, including specialist cable-laying boats.

Zoë Holliday, chief executive of Community Energy Scotland, said the issue of community ownership and wealth building had come into sharp focus in the debate about moving away from oil and gas.

Holliday said community and public schemes were returning much more to local communities than the £5,000 per MW of capacity usually offered by private projects. He said islanders in Harris hope to build a 43 MW scheme that will be jointly owned.

“There is real political will at both Scottish and UK levels to support community energy,” he said. “If we gave our communities a stake in this system, we could transform them.”