Greens say SSE acting like a ‘pirate’ after reportedly earning £10m from Viking windfarm in just one month

Viking Energy windfarm.

Shetland Greens have accused SSE of acting like a “pirate” after it emerged it is selling electricity from the Viking Energy windfarm at three times the agreed price.

Furious party members made the comments last night (Monday) after analysis by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) revealed the energy giant was receiving a staggering £199/MWh for the electricity the windfarm produced in August.

That is three times the generous guaranteed price awarded by the UK government.

It comes just days after REF produced figures showing SSE had received more than £2m for keeping the Viking windfarm switched off in August.

REF estimates SSE has earned £10m from the windfarm in August alone.

Shetland Greens councillor Alex Armitage accused the company of acting like a “pirate”.

“SSE knew that it would be operating in a constrained environment and generating profit from switching off turbines,” he added.

“We face an Orwellian winter in Shetland. Extortionate electricity prices will force folk to have to switch off their heating to save money, yet at the same time there could well be someone at SSE flicking a switch to turn off Viking’s turbines that could, at minimal extra cost to SSE, be turned back on to warm those folk’s homes.

“SSE misled the public on Viking’s carbon credentials.

“The construction of the windfarm required a significant outlay in terms of carbon emissions.

“SSE told us that the carbon payback time was less than two years. If the windfarm is now only operating at 38 per cent capacity, that carbon payback time will be more than twice as long.

“SSE has lost its social license to operate in Shetland.

“They built the Viking Windfarm in return for a promise of a guaranteed electricity price, but now when they are not being paid to keep turbines off, they are selling the electricity at elevated rates – effectively cashing in on people’s misery.

“SSE needs to do better than the pittance Shetland gets in ‘community benefit’.

“We need to find a way to use constrained power locally, at a reasonable price.

“[SSE chief executive] Alistair Phillips-Davies could be a saviour for Shetlanders this winter; he doesn’t have to be the corporate villain.”

Shetland Greens co-convener Roderick Read said SSE had “no sense of public responsibility” as grid operator.

“SSE confirmed its contempt for the British people in November 2019 when its UK Transmission and Distribution businesses were transferred into a Swiss holding company to be covered by the Energy Charter Treaty – a legal framework which allows energy companies to sue governments for delaying or renegotiating project.s”

REF published a blog on Sunday, in which it estimated that Viking had wared more than £10m in August alone.

It said this was three times what it would have received at the originally agreed price.

“These facts make a mockery of claims that projects such as Viking offer good value to consumers, or, as Viking’s launch publicity claimed, that this would one of the most productive onshore wind farms in Britain.

“On the contrary, it is shaping up to be one of the most heavily constrained, least productive and yet extortionately profitable wind projects ever built.”

In a statement, SSE said: “Constraint payments are made when the energy being produced in one part of the country can’t get to another because there simply isn’t the capacity to carry it. The constraint of any operational energy asset, such as Viking Wind Farm, is a decision for the Electricity System Operator alone and is not taken by any individual company.

“The clear solution to improving capacity on the grid is to speed up investment in electricity networks so the UK can get the most out of its enviable renewable energy resources. A range of grid upgrade projects are already in development which will help alleviate the issue by increasing available grid capacity, and so will get more homegrown energy to where it’s needed.

 “SSE is investing billions of pounds every year, much more than it makes in profits, in building the electricity infrastructure that will allow the UK, including Shetland, to fully benefit from its vast resources of clean, homegrown energy.”