What changed since 1978?
The Shetland Report was commissioned in 1978 to explore what constitutional models might be available to Shetland if Scotland moved towards devolution. Almost fifty years later, devolution has happened — but many of the fundamental questions the report raised have never been answered publicly.
The most important change since 1978 is not only political. It is practical: the scale of external interest in Shetland’s land, sea, and energy potential has increased beyond anything the report anticipated.
The turning point: Viking Energy
For many Shetlanders, the major event that reshaped local politics and split the community was the Viking Energy wind farm.
Whatever view people held on wind power in principle, Viking became a defining moment because it established a pattern that has repeated ever since:
- Decisions made at scale with long-term consequences for landscape, community cohesion, and local consent.
- Consultation treated as a formality — objections recorded, but the direction unchanged.
- Local needs and priorities subordinated to larger strategic agendas.
- Institutional momentum where projects are pursued because they have been started, not because consent remains clear.
- A completed project that failed to deliver the promised results except for those involved in developing it.
Viking was not simply “a wind farm debate”. It was a test of whether Shetland could meaningfully say “yes”, “no”, or “not yet” to major changes on its own land.
From land to sea: the same pattern reappears
Today, the focus has shifted from land-based wind to the marine environment — offshore wind, subsea infrastructure, and large-scale industrial use of marine space.
The details differ, but the underlying pattern is recognisable: large projects proceed while local consent remains unclear, and while the foundations of authority and contractual capacity are treated as assumed rather than evidenced.
This is why Shetland First treats the marine “renewables” debate as part of a longer story — not a new story.
The interconnector changed everything
A second major change is the interconnector. Once connected to the UK grid, Shetland was no longer viewed primarily as an island community with local energy needs. It became visible — to large corporations and investors — as a location for export-scale energy generation.
This has brought new pressures that were not part of Shetland’s lived experience before:
- Proposals for additional substations and major new grid infrastructure.
- Upgrades to cables and switching equipment to handle industrial-scale flows.
- In some cases, discussion of overhead lines and pylons — a requirement historically unknown in Shetland.
- Calls to reinforce the interconnector with an even larger cable.
The key point is not whether any one project is “good” or “bad”. It is that the interconnector opened a door to a scale of industrial interest that now risks overwhelming Shetland’s ability to choose its own future.
The deeper issue: accountability without a visible record
Over the same period, Shetland has paid very large sums into wider public finances, while major decisions affecting land and sea have increasingly been made through institutional presumption rather than clear, local democratic choice.
The result is a growing sense that Shetland is being asked to accept permanent change without:
- clear comparability of financial flows over time,
- clear control of land and seabed assumptions,
- or clear local consent on the scale and direction of industrial development.
This is not a call to action. It is a call for clarity. The purpose of “Shetland’s Future” is to make the options visible again — including the option of the status quo.