The Vikings are still invading the UK with wind technology not ships in 2024
In the September newsletter, from HSEQ-360 Limited, we are looking at breaking news. News that renewable offshore and onshore wind is now capable of providing power for up to 26 million homes, or 30GW.
This landmark milestone is partly due to SSE Renewables opening of a 443MW wind farm on the Shetland Islands, some 15 years in development. The news has prompted us to scurry down several rabbit holes to celebrate this event.
Firstly, we love the name of the new wind farm: Viking.
Cue rabbit hole one
The Vikings invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (now known as England) in the eighth century. England did not exist as a name, instead we had large areas, known as kingdoms called:
The arrivals were not all about raiding and pillaging. In fact, Northumbria had some peace with the Vikings, albeit after dramatic incursions from 793 onwards. The Vikings wanted gold and silver to trade and Viking fleets and sea battles were a common occurrence for 200 years and more.
East Anglia saw coastal landings in 871 and, after a peace settlement, the Vikings controlled land running from the east of London to Chester (Danelaw, as it was called) with the south and west remaining under King Alfred’s rule.
Names changed too: Grimsby means Grimr’s Farm as the Viking owner was called Grimr. Dale, beck, fell came into existence as words as did new vocabulary like window, husband, skull and egg.
York the capital of England
Cities like York grew in size and its Viking heritage is still marked today by the Jorvik centre. It was the capital of England too. Yorvik is thought to mean “Wild Boar Creek” too, interestingly perhaps.
Norwich, a fine Viking city?
Norwich became a Viking stronghold as well in the 9th century with Fye Bridge (over the Wensum) being a Viking crossover point originally. Tombland was a Scandinavian marketplace. Fishergate (street of the fishermen) saw excavations of Viking fish hooks and weights. Many villages, in Norfolk have Viking origins. like St Olaves, a nod to King Olaf of Norway.
The name England (Engalond) came into being and Danish royalty ruled over England between 1016 and 1042.
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Let’s fall down rabbit hole two: offshore wind in the UK
Offshore and onshore wind has a much shorter timeline than Viking settlement with the first wind farm coming into existence in 1991 at Delabole, Cornwall (onshore).? 2001 saw the first offshore wind project off the coast of Northumberland close to Blyth (with just two turbines from Vestas). Its rise and power outputs have been astronomical since, with the figures of 1GW in 2001 to 30GW today being remarkable.
"It took 26 years to install the first 15GW of wind energy in the UK, so to double that to 30GW in just seven years represents a tremendous success for the industry," said Ana Musat RenewableUK's executive director of policy and engagement.
The Viking Wind Farm comes after 15 years of planning and development. It has 103 turbines and is connected to the grid by a 260km High Voltage Direct subsea cable and becomes the UK’s largest onshore wind farm.
Dogger Bank and Hornsea zone (constantly expanding) are just two of the largest offshore wind farms in the UK and perhaps you guessed it? They have been jointly developed too by Scandinavian renewable giants like: ?rsted (Danish), Equinor (Norwegian), V?rgr?nn and Vestas (Norwegian), and Vattenfall (Sweden).
Perhaps the Viking invaders of 1200 years ago were prescient - this time, with the Scottish giant SSE Renewables, the gold and silver has turned green.
Into green energy.
And that’s good for all of us.
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