Bight of Califf

Loch of Kebister with raven overhead and the Luggie's Knowe wind turbine to the north.

These two red objects stand at the junction alongside Strand Loch. The postbox is emptied on weekday and Saturday mornings at 9:30.

The loch empties into Lax Firth a short way to the north. The road follows a causeway across the lower end.

The turbines are on the Hill of Burradale HU4242.

The beach appears to be virtually inaccessible down the cliffs.

Industrial buildings at the end of a large no through road.

A shapely small hill near the mouth of Dale's Voe.

This Gyrfalcon from the Arctic was found onboard a trawler and was taken to the SSPCA centre at Gott, where it was rehabilitated and released on the day that this photo was taken.

A rough track made by vehicles strikes across the moor from Luggies Knowe, now the site of a large wind turbine. The ultimate destination of the track was hard to decipher as on first acquaintance it seemed to peter out. It does not appear on OS Mapping.

Soft going with some blanket bog and heather. The turbine on Luggie's Knowe visible ahead.

A quiet secluded loch under the Hill of Gremista.

Heather, grasses and bog dominate the terrain.

The base at Dales Voe was built in anticipation of contracts to build and maintain rigs. Ironically, the first contract for the base was to dismantle a decommissioned rig.

With a tip height of 121m, the Enercon E-82 E4 is 11m lower than the 3.6 MW turbine on which planning permission was based. Seen from half a mile away, it dominates the skyline of Luggie's Knowe on the northern slopes of Hill of Gremista, but being at 60m above sea level, almost half its height is hidden in views from Lerwick itself. It is designed to continue to produce power in up to force 10 wind - beyond that at which most wind farms give up and run away, but quite important in a location like this. Judging by the performance of the operator's existing turbines, three miles away (the world's most productive onshore wind farm for its size) , it can be expected to have one of the highest load factors in the world, averaging almost 50% of its potential output in November 2017, for example and generating an income of the order of half a million pounds per year. With a capacity of 2.97 MW, it will be making a substantial contribution to the planned 600 MW renewable power export to mainland Scotland via the 1200 MW Caithness-Moray transmission link. Shetland itself is also seeing the benefit, as Luggie's Knowe forms part of the 8.5 MW capacity managed network, whose 1 MW battery at Lerwick Power Station has seen a reduction of 10-15% in diesel consumption at that station. Shetland's power consumption is now about one third renewable energy. Quite impressive for islands whose economy has been so dependent on oil production !