SSEN’s Fort Augustus substation gets green light from Highland Council for massive expansion as the company claims its investment in the north of Scotland will deliver £100 million in community benefit
Highland Council gave planning permission to an energy giant to expand its substation near a popular Loch Ness tourist village for the second time in six years.
SSEN Transmission’s Auchterawe substation will grow by four hectares – the equivalent, as one councillor put it, of four times the size of the pitch at Murrayfield.
It sees the Highlands again bear the brunt of infrastructure “of a wider national programme of works that are required to meet UK and Scottish Government energy targets”.
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SSEN Transmission claims that the investment in this and other schemes will be “a major driver of jobs and economic growth locally” and deliver “more than £100m of community benefit”.
The application came less than two years after completion of the previous upgrade that saw the site grow again to accommodate the Beauly-Denny 275kV circuit.
Now the substation platform just west of Fort Augustus will increase in size to more than 4.5 hectares to accommodate the 400kV circuit.
While the substation building will be 70 metres in length, 32 metres wide and up to 14.5 metres high
The move is part of the controversial “path to 2030” investment, stretching through communities from Spittal in Caithness to Beauly and east to Peterhead.
Alongside connections to the Western Isles and Orkney, it will transform how power generated from green energy sources is transported to markets in the south.
The company welcomed the decision by the council’s south planning applications committee in approving the extension, which it described as “a key component of plans to upgrade the electricity transmission network across the north of Scotland”.
Overall the Beauly-Denny 400kV uprating project will see the capacity of one of the two existing overhead line circuits on the line increase from 275kV to 400kV.
That means the construction of new substations at Beauly (Fanellan), Fasnakyle (Bingally), Braco (Cambushinnie), and the extension at Fort Augustus.
These investments will also be a major catalyst for economic growth across the country, supporting jobs and boosting the economy.
Rob McDonald, managing director of SSEN Transmission, said: “These investments will also be a major driver of jobs and economic growth locally and across the north of Scotland, bringing substantial legacy opportunities for communities and businesses - such as supporting new housing, delivering more than £100m of community benefit funding across the region, and achieving enhancements to biodiversity.
"We welcome the decision by the Highland Council's South Planning Committee to approve our Fort Augustus substation extension application at Auchterawe, which is a hugely important milestone in securing our energy future.
“Our Pathway to 2030 investment programme is crucial if we are to strengthen resilience in the electricity network and achieve the country’s energy security and clean power ambitions.
“These investments will also be a major driver of jobs and economic growth locally and across the north of Scotland, bringing substantial legacy opportunities for communities and businesses - such as supporting new housing, delivering more than £100 million of community benefit funding across the region, and achieving enhancements to biodiversity.
"We will now take time to assess the conditions applied by the Council as we prepare to move into the development phase of the project, where we are committed to work constructively with the local community and businesses to maximise the opportunities that our investment will bring."
