A subsidiary of Scottish and Southern Energy, SSE Generation, and Viking Energy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which is expected to lead to the development of a 600 MW wind farm on the Shetland Islands.

Viking Energy represents the Shetland Islands Council’s interests and would make the scheme the largest community-backed wind farm development in Europe.

Both SSE Generation and Viking Energy currently have proposals for 300 MW wind farms in the central mainland of Shetland and expected to merge their proposals into a single 600 MW development.

A wind farm on the Islands could be expected to have a load factor of up to 50%, making it the most productive wind farm in Europe.