Shetland – which is home to a large wind farm and has been a focal point of the oil and gas industry for decades – has been missed on the map of the UK in a new document compiled by the UK Government’s own energy body.
GB Energy has come under fire after failing to include Shetland on the map, which appears on a page about onshore energy developments.
The publicly owned company, which was set up by the Labour Government and is set to be based in Aberdeen, published its strategic plan on Thursday, 4 November, featuring the glaring omission.
It has since apologised for the error and insisted it will rectify the mistake.
MP Alistair Carmichael said that the least Shetland should expect for hosting one of the UK’s biggest onshore energy developments was “a spot on the map”.
“I suspect that Shetlanders will be bemused to learn that the Isle of Man is considered to be part of the UK in the eyes of GB Energy, while Shetland is not,” he added. And Hannah-Mary Goodlad, a former Equinor employee and Scottish election candidate, said it was “staggering, but not surprising” that Shetland had been missed.
Islands turned into ‘energy hub’ – except for Shetland
A legal requirement was passed in Holyrood in 2018 which said official maps in Scotland could no longer place Shetland in a box. While GB Energy did not place Shetland in a box on the map, they instead missed Shetland off entirely – but still had Orkney.
The map features next to a piece about public land opportunities in the UK, which says public land “provides one of the largest untapped opportunities for onshore renewables in the UK”.
The GB Energy strategic plan does not include any mentions of Shetland – despite the isles being turned into an ‘energy hub’, with the potential to produce and export vast amounts of energy into the UK national grid.
Shetland has 660MW of consented onshore wind farms, representing 2.6% of the UK total.
Goodlad, who is the prospective candidate for the SNP for the Shetland seat at next May’s Scottish election, said that Shetland deserved more respect in the energy conversation.
“We host one of Europe’s largest onshore wind farms, sit at the centre of vital energy corridors, have Sullom Voe in our land and have taken far more of our fair share in national contribution to renewable build out,” she said. “Shetland deserves to be seen, respected, and represented by decision-makers who actually understand our strategic importance – not treated as a footnote by a government too far away to notice when it erases us from its own map.”
GB Energy set up
GB Energy said its strategic plan “sets out a clear, practical plan to accelerate the UK’s shift to renewable power and strengthen the nation’s industrial backbone”.
One pledge is to “catalyse the just transition” and fund projects to support “at least 10,000 jobs by 2030, including skills and locations historically dependent on oil and gas”.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said GB Energy was set up by the UK Government “to be a national champion” which would allow them to reap the benefits of Britain’s natural resources. “This plan shows what a publicly-owned energy company will deliver: an abundance of clean, homegrown energy for British people and thousands of good jobs across the country.”
This article was first published 5 November on Shetland News. Since then, GB Energy has rectified the error.
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