Another item on the power line route on BBC News this morning that might be of interest, don’t forget the big meeting tonight at 7 pm at the Spa Pavilion with SSENSSEN Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks is a trading name of Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution Limited Registered in Scotland. If you are attending the meeting which is sure to be packed, and have any budding journalistic tendencies, please let me have a paragraph or two about what you thought of the event, including a picture or two, that I can then publish on the village website.
I notice the title of the news article leads you to believe they are still looking for alternatives which is rather misleading because they already have the alternatives, and they’re all bad, all we’ve got to do is help them decide which one to go for😡
SSE Transmission has said it will look at ways of reducing the impact of a new 103-mile (167km) overhead powerline in the Highlands.
The Spittal to Beauly plans would move renewable energy generated in the Highlands to the rest of the UK.
But campaigners have concerns about the visual impact on rural landscapes and disruption to communities.
SSE Transmission said it was responding to public feedback.
It said the project team would look at possible routes for the 400kV line, locations for substations and other potential mitigation measures, with further consultation planned.
SSE said the line, which would run via Loch Buidhe, was part of work to help UK and Scottish governments meet net zero targets.
It would connect with one connecting Beauly with Denny, which was upgraded about a decade ago.
Last month, Strathpeffer and Contin Better Cable Route Group said the overhead line would “absolutely destroy” the natural beauty of the landscape around it.
Spokesman Dan Bailey said: “We are on the edge of the Highlands, we are a scenic location, we have got campsites, we have got hotels, mountain bike businesses, walking guides, wildlife watching.
“All of these things feed into the local economy.
“All of these things are under threat if you plough the line through the wrong part of our area.”
“We will do everything we can to try to trigger a public inquiry if the preferred route is just bulldozed through regardless of local feeling.”
John Mackenzie, the Earl of Cromartie and the current chief of Clan Mackenzie, also voiced concerns.
He said: “This is not a wasteland, this is an area of natural beauty where people come to live because it is a good place to bring children up, to work and to appreciate just how wonderful it is.
“In Europe, power lines running across areas of outstanding scenery would be undergrounded, so why not here?”
SSE community liaison manager Martin Godwin said: “We very much look forward to continuing to engage constructively with affected communities and wider stakeholders.”
It’s a moot point, but I would argue as we are no more than 10 km from the top of Ben Wyvis, a Munro and one of 281 other mountains in Scotland of 3,000 feet or higher, that Strathpeffer is not on the edge of the Highlands but in the Highlands, as is the rest of Ross-shire.
https://www.ssen-transmission.co.uk/globalassets/projects/projects/spittal—loch-buidhe—beauly-400kv-connection-downloads/consultation-response-may-2023.pdf
The above document suggests that SSENSSEN Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks is a trading name of Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution Limited Registered in Scotland are in fact now open to alternative routes and/or the rationalisation of existing ones. (So other potential options are presumably on the table including upgrading the existing lines to/from/around Maryburgh.)
Given that they are basically responding to imperatives which have been handed down to them by both Westminster and Scottish governments, this is at least a sign of useful flexibility within parameters which SSEN did not set.
So when it comes to the meeting this evening, it will be important to understand why SSEN have made their proposals and where responsibility actually lies. Given that they have a legal obligation to develop the network within parameters set by governments, a deal of this responsibility lies not with SSEN but with the various governments. And the Scottish government will be represented at the meeting.
Where SSEN have perhaps been most at fault is over the quality and approach to the consultation – it could have been more participatory and more collaborative. But the requirement for the line was set by government not SSEN..
My initial response to the 18/5/23 meeting was disappointment. SSENSSEN Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks is a trading name of Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution Limited Registered in Scotland gave an opaque series of responses to a huge, concerned audience. Our moderator Ron McAulay’s precise appraisal of those concerns and expected actions went unanswered across the piece. There has clearly been no proper project, risk or cost assessment for undersea and underground alternatives to the proposed pylons. I was also underwhelmed by the stance of our MPMP In the United Kingdom, a member of Parliament (MP) is an individual elected to serve in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom., Ian Blackford who – while apparently gently backing undersea cables – seemed to extol “jam tomorrow” jobs without concern to today.