Shetland power restored

Following the restoration of power to all those who experienced outages in Shetland today (Sunday 18 December), Justice Secretary Keith Brown joined Police Scotland in thanking everyone involved in the recovery effort.

Mr Brown, the Scottish Government’s lead minister for resilience who met responders and community representatives on Shetland on Thursday, said:

“The exceptional weather conditions in parts of Shetland led to complex damage to the power network which was very challenging to restore. Throughout the recovery effort, the Scottish Government resilience room (SGoRR) met on several occasions, alongside ongoing discussions with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) and other partners.

“I want to extend my sincere thanks to all our partners for the vital roles they have played in the recovery effort. From the hundreds of SSEN engineers, and supporting companies, SP Energy Networks, Northern Power Grid and BT, working round the clock to get people reconnected, to Police Scotland, Shetland Islands Council and local resilience partnerships who provided essential advice and welfare support to those affected.  In particular, the local communities which stepped up to support those around them, providing shelter, warm spaces and hot food cannot be commended highly enough. 

“It was remarkable to see first-hand, the incredible response from residents, businesses and partners across Shetland in very difficult circumstances.

“As always, after a situation of this kind, partners will review our individual and collective response to see whether there are aspects which might be improved to ensure our resilience remains strong at a local and national level.”

Chief Inspector Stuart Clemenson, Police Scotland’s Shetland Area Commander, added:

"The last week has been an exceptionally challenging time for the island and there has been a phenomenal response from partners and the community.

"I would like to thank our communities for looking after each other and following the guidance to stay safe. Support for those who need it within our communities will continue."