ESB has announced a new name for its 500MW floating wind farm off the coast of Shetland following a competition among local primary school children.
Formerly known as the Sealtainn Offshore Wind Farm, the project will now be called Stoura Wind Farm.
The name Stoura is, in the words of the competition winner from Bells Brae Primary School, “an old Shetland word which has two meanings. Firstly, it can mean windy. It can also mean wide open space.”
ESB secured the site in the NE1 lease area off the islands’ east coast as part of the ScotWind clearing round, run in the wake of the larger auction in early 2022 for applicants who met the required standards but did not secure their chosen location first time around.
The site is located approximately 40km from Shetland where the water depth is between 100m and 130m, and intends to build a floating project of up to 500MW – enough energy to power around 350,000 homes.
© Supplied by Crown Estate ScotlanInitial supply chain commitments for the three projects that were picked indicate an average of £1.2 billion investment in Scotland per gigawatt (GW) of capacity built.
Cian Desmond PhD, Project Director for Stoura Wind Farm, commented: “We were blown away by the quality of entries from the young Shetlanders.
“This made the task of selecting an overall winner very difficult. In the end, we are delighted with the name Stoura which has strong links to the local landscape, Shetland Dialect and the windy, exposed nature of the site.”
APEM began two-year marine wildlife and onshore vantage point surveys for the scheme last year. which will gauge the impact on coastal birds and habitats at the location of the potential export cable corridor landfall sites.
More recently ESB also bought Wood’s stake in the 50:50 joint venture developing the Lewis Wind Power scheme. Lewis Wind Power received planning consent in 2022 for a 33-turbine wind farm with a capacity of up to 200MW, located to the west of Stornoway.
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