McFadyen’s Transport Ltd in Viking Wind Farm Convoy Plans on Shetland

SSE Renewables and Vestas have announced details of the companies’ plans for moving turbine components over 15 miles ( >24km) from Lerwick Port to the Viking Wind Farm site in central Mainland Shetland. Convoys will begin on Monday 6 February.

Vestas, which is supplying the 103 wind turbines which make up the wind farm, is responsible for safely managing the process of getting the components from their factories to Lerwick and then delivering them from there to the Viking site.

Robert Yeates, Vestas’ Lead Project Manager, “To transport equipment of this size and weight requires specialist vehicles and expertise, so to carry out the work we have contracted McFadyens Transport Ltd, a specialist haulage company based in Campbeltown on the Scottish mainland with several years’ experience of safely transporting wind turbine components.

“Obviously safety is our paramount concern and with that in mind, I am pleased that the convoys will be escorted by specialist Police Scotland officers who are coming from the mainland. We’re looking forward to completing the transportation safely and with the minimum of disruption to Shetlanders and visitors alike,”

Aaron Priest, Stakeholder Manager for the Viking Wind Farm, “The arrival of the turbine components is obviously a landmark milestone in the construction of the wind farm. With more than one thousand parts to be transported, it is no small task and we’re pleased to have support from Police Scotland and Shetland Islands Council for completing the task safely and with the minimum of disruption.

“We would like to thank everyone in the local community for their patience over the next few months and we will do everything we can to keep them informed and updated on the convoy movements.”

There will be up to three convoys per day, 6 days a week (Mon – Sat) with up to four wind turbine components per convoy. The convoy travel time is estimated to be around 1 hour from leaving the port to entering the site.

The timing of the movements has also been planned to seek to ensure that the early morning convoy will be off the public highway by 8am and the mid-afternoon convoy will be off the public highway by 3pm to avoid the relevant peak travel periods.

The first turbines at the Viking Wind Farm site are scheduled to be erected in late March. The wind turbine component convoys are expected to conclude by July.

All photographs courtesy of McFadyen’s Transport Ltd,

Source SSE Renewables