ASA wades into Scottish wind farm rows

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today banned an advert claiming that a proposed wind farm in the Shetlands will deliver economic and environmental benefits to the islands, despite the fact that financial returns from the project are now expected to be greater than those stated in the original ad.

The leaflet from wind farm developer Viking Energy first appeared in May as part of a campaign to secure local support for its proposed 150-turbine development.

Viking Energy, which is a joint venture between a Shetland community group and Scottish and Southern Energy, said in the leaflet that half the profits from the project would stay in the local community, and that between £25m and £30m would be pumped into the island community each year. It also stated that " upwards" of £18m would be awarded to the Shetland Charitable Trust each year and that greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the project would be "cancelled out by green power in less than three years".

The ad prompted six complaints, four of which were upheld by the advertising watchdog, which concluded that the ad was misleading and should not be distributed again in its current form.

Viking Energy said that while only 45 per cent of the joint venture was owned by the Shetland Charitable Trust, an additional five per cent was held by four individual shareholders, "all of whom were brought up and still lived in Shetland".

It also argued that the ad stated that it "expected" to generate £25m to £30m a year, and that it was "likely" that the Trust would receive upwards of £18m. Moreover, it said that these estimates were conservative and that they "have subsequently [been] found to be underestimates".

However, the ASA ruled that the stake held by individual shareholders meant it was misleading to state that 50 per cent of the profits would remain in the community. It also said that the financial projections were not adequately substantiated by concrete evidence such as electricity supply contracts.

In addition, the ASA ruled that despite being based on a Scottish Government study, the claim that the carbon emissions from the development would be cancelled out within three years should have been superseded by a Viking Energy study, which suggested that the carbon payback period would most likely run to 3.7 years.

Viking Energy, which is continuing to push for planning approval for the 550MW development, said that all its environmental and financial estimates were based on the best available figures at the time. But it apologised for any confusion caused by the ad, admitting that the ownership structure of the company could have been communicated more clearly.

Meanwhile, in a sign that the ASA is becoming increasingly embroiled in conflicts between wind farm developers and anti-wind farm lobby groups, the watchdog today also banned a leaflet from a group protesting against developer Infinergy's plans for the Dorenell wind farm, near Dufftown in Moray.

The ASA said that the Save Our Scenic Moray group had failed to adequately substantiate claims that the wind farm would damage whisky glens, kill rare golden eagles, result in "pollution of rivers and loss of habitat", and would deter tourist visitors to the area. It banned the group from continuing to distribute the leaflet and warned it to provide evidence to back up its claims in future.