Questions for Viking (Alan Skinner)

There are important questions for Viking Energy directors and Shetland Charitable Trust trustees.

What an important week it has been. First three new directors of Viking Energy and then eight new trustees for Shetland Charitable Trust.

We have 11 new people, plus seven councillors, who will be making very important decisions for the future of Shetland. I wish them luck and I do sincerely hope that Shetland will become very wealthy again through this project.

However, there are some critical questions that these new people must ask themselves and they must be absolutely satisfied with the answers.

1. What is so special about Shetland electricity that a future government will commit somewhere between £500 million and £1 billion for an interconnector cable?

2. If there is nothing special about the electricity, what makes Shetland so politically important that the interconnector cable investment could be justified? Bear in mind that our population is 22,000, which is roughly the same as Arbroath or Musselburgh. Also bear in mind that Shetland has voted Liberal since 1950, which we are told is now the fourth largest political party. We know that the Conservatives are opposed to renewables.

3. What will Shetland Charitable Trust’s maximum investment be in Viking Energy, and is that concentration of risk in a single investment appropriate for the charitable trust?

4. What is the current value of the charitable trust’s investment in Viking, as valued by a serious independent valuer?

5. Do I genuinely believe that the Viking project is going to happen?

Alan Skinner
New House,
Cullivoe,
Yell.