Gills Bay Radial - Upgrading The Power Lines - Public Consultation

23rd March 2014

To enable proposed marine generation sites in the Pentland Firth to connect to the transmission network, SSE are proposing to construct a new 132 kilovolt overhead line from a new substation near Gills Bay to the proposed Thurso South substation at Geiselittle.

SSE are carrying out a number of upgrades to the electricity transmission network in the north of Scotland. This work will reinforce the network and provide extra capacity for new generators of electricity wishing to connect.

In March 2010 the Crown Estate leased ‘option areas’ in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters for the establishment of marine generation developments. Two of these leased areas are in close proximity to Gills Bay and have a combined potential generation capacity of 500MW of tidal energy.

As the existing distribution network in the Gills Bay area does not have sufficient capacity to connect the planned marine developments, we are proposing to extend the transmission network into the area.

The proposed upgrade comprises:
• the construction of a new 132/33 kilovolt (kV) enclosed electricity substation in the Gills Bay area; and
• the construction of a new 132kV overhead line on steel lattice towers from the proposed Gills Bay substation to the planned new Thurso South substation.

Each marine generation developer is responsible for bringing their cables ashore and installing any necessary onshore infrastructure to connect to the proposed new substation.

Public consultation
A report has recently been published on consultation which took place between July and September 2013. This explains how they have amended the favoured route for the overhead line in reponse to the feedback that we received.

SSE will be holding two further public consultation events:
• On Wednesday 2 April 2014 at Caithness Horizons in Thurso from 3pm until 7:30pm; and
• On Thursday 3 April 2014 at Mey Village Hall from 3pm until 7:30pm.

The events will provide provide members of the public with the opportunity to talk to our project team, who will be on hand to answer questions. All are very welcome.

Materials from the events will be added to this website once they have taken place. We would ask for comments and feedback forms to be submitted to our Liaison Manager by Friday 25 April 2014.

See consultation documents at
http://www.ssepd.co.uk/GillsBay/ProjectDocuments/