About Us

Shetland Community Benefit Fund Ltd was setup in 2011 following an initiative by the Association of Shetland Community Councils and Voluntary Action Shetland in the very early days of renewable energy in the islands when the Viking Energy Wind Farm was first proposed.

SCBF and its directors take no view on the rights or wrongs of Viking or any other renewable energy development. SCBF exists to negotiate the best possible agreement for Shetland from commercial developers who want us to manage any community benefit agreement.

SCBF is registered and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. From the start it was agreed that SCBF would not be a charity and therefore be free from the legal constraints that charities can get caught up in. SCBF will have considerable freedom in using its funds. It can invest in or make loans or grants to community or charitable bodies as well as businesses and individuals – although there are restrictions for businesses and individuals.

Each of Shetland’s 18 community councils can nominate a director for the SCBF board and they need not be a community councillor. Once elected to the board the director has a separate legal responsibility to promote SCBF’s interests – like any company director or charity trustee.

SCBF have signed two legally-binding agreements with Viking Energy – one for funding of £400,000 a year while the development was being built from 2020 to 2024 and another for the main core funding of £2,214,500 a year (index-linked) for the lifetime of the development. The main funding started when the wind farm began sending the first commercial energy through the new interconnector cable to the Scottish mainland in September 2024.

This £400,000 funding agreement was used by SCBF to operate the Advance Grant Scheme to fund projects supported by Shetland’s community councils. The four community councils that have a turbine in their area – Tingwall Whiteness and Weisdale, Sandsting and Aithsting, Delting, and Nesting and Lunnasting – were allocated £50,000 a year to support projects and the other 14 community councils £10,000 a year.

SCBF also used the funding to operate the scheme, run its administration, for legal and financial advice in its negotiations with VEWF, develop a website with on-line grant applications, and to hold a wide-scale consultation to identify the community’s priorities for the Viking Community Fund. The results form the basis of a full Business Plan which was needed before the second legal agreement, for the main core funding of £2,214,500 a year, could be signed. The Business Plan was approved in May 2024 and the formal Minute of Agreement signed later the same month.

SCBF is now looking to see how the community benefit fund can be used to supplement and enhance existing funding schemes, from whatever source, and to help tackle local needs and priorities in imaginative and creative ways. Full details of our funding schemes are in the Business Plan.

A large proportion of the work of SCBF since 2011 focused on the Viking Energy Wind Farm (VEWF) development. Initially it was owned mainly by the Shetland Charitable Trust and SSE Renewables but the trust backed-out of its investment leaving SSE Renewable as the owners.

Anyone in Shetland over the past decade knows the Viking project has experienced something of a roller-coaster ride. The work and activity levels of SCBF and its directors has largely mirrored that of Viking Energy. When its prospects of going-ahead seemed more likely then SCBF activity increased because we had to be prepared in case the wind farm was built. However when the prospects were less likely, as was the case for some time, then SCBF activity was largely restricted to an annual meeting and a ‘watching brief’ on what was, or wasn’t happening.

However, work continued somewhat spasmodically on preparing a draft agreement for community benefit if the Viking development did ever happen. SCBF held numerous negotiations with the company and its main shareholder – SSE Renewables.

As the commitment and confidence of SSE Renewable to build the Viking windfarm increased SCBF, Viking Energy and SSE Renewables finally signed Heads of Terms in July 2020 to form the basis of community benefit funding through the Viking Community Fund.

This committed Viking Energy and SCBF to two legally-binding agreements – one for funding of £400,000 a year while the development was being built from 2020 to 2024 and another for the main core funding of £2,214,500 a year (index-linked) for the lifetime of the development once operational.

In May 2020 SCBF signed an agreement with the local company that runs the Burradale wind farm – Shetland Aerogenerators. This was the second community benefit agreement for SCBF. It is managed and accounted for separately from any other fund. The agreement is for £10,000 a year for 10 years, index linked to CPI.

The fund was used initially to promote active travel, but there is now a five-year plan to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEMs) in local schools and reintroduce a Shetland Science Festival.

There are three other proposed smaller wind farms in the islands, all now owned by Norwegian state-owned company Statkraft. SCBF maintains contact with the company to discuss its plans for the three projects although there has been no final decision on the distribution of these funds. SCBF is also in discussion with several potential offshore windfarm developers and takes part in discussions regarding the islands council’s ORION Project.

April 2025