Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Transmission has hit a major milestone on its project to connect the Orkney Islands to the main British power grid, having awarded contracts to several major development firms.
The project will see Scotland’s Orkney Islands connected to the main British power grid for the first time with a 220kV link cable, which will facilitate the connection of up to 220MW of new renewables to the national grid. A new substation will be constructed at Finstown, Orkney, where 14km of underground cable and then 53km of subsea cable will connect into a second new stubstation at Dounreay, Caithness, on the Scottish mainland.
Construction contracts for the £900 million project have now been awarded to developers. The substations will be built by the Siemens Energy and BAM joint venture, while construction major RJ McLeod will install the underground cable ducting. The cable itself will be manufactured by Nexans in Halden, Norway, with Nexans also installing the cable.
Deputy project director at SSEN Transmission, Ian Clark, said: “Early development and initial public consultation on this project started in 2017 and reaching this point – where we’re ready for construction to begin – is a testament to the hard work by the entire team at SSEN Transmission and our supply chain partners. We’re now ready to get started with construction work at each end of the link in Finstown and Dounreay and will keep the communities informed as we make progress.”
Linking the islands and the grid
The Orkney – Caithness link project is not the first time SSEN Transmission has made an effort to connect the Scottish Islands to the main British electricity grid.
Last month, shortly after SSE Renewables’ Viking Wind Farm came online, SSEN Transmission announced the completion of a 206km subsea transmission link connecting the Shetland Islands to the British electricity grid. The two projects are the result of a £1 billion investment from SSE.
SSEN is looking further to the future of the Scottish Islands, having recently made a Request for Information in hopes of exploring the flexibility potential of the Orkney, Shetland, Outer Hebrides, Mull, Coll and Tiree, Isaly Jura and Colonsay island regions.
