About

Shetland Aerogenerators was formed in 1992, and we operate from our offices on Charlotte Street in Shetland’s capital of Lerwick. We initially set out to investigate the opportunities expected after the Government announced the Scottish Renewables Obligation. Shetland Aerogenerators owns Burradale Windfarm and we have acted as developer, constructor, operator and client at various stages.

Burradale opened in 2000, and has since become the most productive windfarm in the world per unit of installed capacity. It is located just a few miles outside of Lerwick. In 2000, three Vestas V47 660kW turbines were installed with 47 metre rotors. They were commissioned on 17th December 2000. Since then, the turbines have had an average capacity factor of 52%, and in 2005 averaged an amazing world record, 57.9%. The first three turbines constructed were all given women’s names – Mina, Betsy and Brenda.

By early 2003, the Burradale project entered its second phase, with two new Vestas V52 850kW turbines added. The theme of female names continued, with the new turbines being named Sally and Karen.

The high productivity of Burradale is due to Shetland's unique wind resource. Energy from Burradale flows to Lerwick Power Station where it then contributes to meeting Shetland's energy demand. The completed wind farm has a total output of 3.68MW saving 6,200 tonnes per years of carbon dioxide emissions, and powering up to 2000 local homes.

At Shetland Aerogenerators, we now undertake selective development of our own wind energy projects and we fully support Viking Energy’s proposal of a large scale wind energy development in Shetland.