POLL: Do you think offshore windfarms can benefit Shetland? 

Offshore turbines. Image: Mainstream

Mainstream Renewable Power — one of two partners in an offshore windfarm planned for east of Shetland — has pulled out of the project.

That decision not only puts Arven windfarm at risk, but also poses questions for related projects which would either use its energy (such as a hydrogen plant proposed for the former Scatsta Airport), or transport it south (a new interconnector cable).

Mainstream joins a growing number of financiers getting cold feet about British renewables.

Last year alone the number of green energy projects in the UK with overseas investment more than halved, losing 3,000 jobs The Times of London reported this week.

While uncertainty over offshore wind and cabling may be welcome news for a fishing fleet feeling increasingly squeezed by marine development, politicians have said it is a “wake up call” for government.

“We cannot let this trickle turn into a flood,” said Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael.

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