Land use
Environment and landscape is one of Shetland's most important features be it the rolling peatland hills, striking sea cliffs, or many miles of coastline.
ORION aims to re-use and repurpose brown field sites and the existing oil and gas infrastructure to transition to a clean energy future thereby keeping intact the natural landscape of Shetland.
As production from SVT and SGP declines with time these brownfield site will become the perfect location to establish renewable industries such as hydrogen production and potentially CO2 storage and transport. The deep-water port located at Sullom Voe is an additional factor making this an ideal location to establish a renewable energy hub.
Decreasing emissions
Decreasing global emissions is a necessity.
Due to operations associated with SVT & SGP, the heavy reliance on fossil fuels in Shetland for domestic power and transportation, and climatic conditions coupled with a low population makes Shetland carbon emissions 73% higher than the Scottish average per capita.
With the inclusion of the energy export and marine industries into the per capita emissions of Shetlanders, the number rises from over 10 tonnes reported by the NAEI to well over 20 tonnes per person per year which is nearly 4 times the UK per capita average. While energy efficiency and reduced use of energy are important for decreasing emissions, it will also be key to transition our energy to cleaner, greener fuels and sources.
Just as Shetland was in a strategic location for oil & gas extraction, it also has invaluable natural assets such as wind and tide that can be harnessed to produce cleaner energy.
Reducing Shetland emissions will contribute to even cleaner air quality and help in decarbonising Scotland and the UK.
SIC is undergoing an analysis of its own emissions as well as isles-wide emissions beyond the energy industry to develop a route-map to net zero and beyond.
