SSEN Distribution moved materials for its £14.2m Aultbea to Ullapool electricity network upgrade by helicopter, the company said, with a three-day airlift carrying 162 wooden poles, drums of new overhead line and other equipment one-by-one from its temporary site at Poolewe1. The kit was delivered along an 18km route stretching between Slattadale and Aultbea1. The airlift took place in the month before SSEN published its account of the work on 25 April 20221.
SSEN said delivery by air rather than by road helped preserve the local landscape and keep environmental impact to a minimum, and overcame access difficulties at the remote location1. The company describes the £14.2m project as designed to make electricity infrastructure across the area more robust, resilient and less susceptible to power cuts, and to increase network capacity for a forecast rise in low carbon technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps1.
Rebuilding the overhead line between Slattadale and Aultbea is a key part of the project1. When full construction begins towards the end of May, SSEN says it will also carry out the following work1:
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Overhead line upgrade | 28km from the substation at Aultbea to Dundonnell |
| New line | Between Dundonnell and Altnaharrie |
| Subsea cable | From Alltnaharrie to Ullapool Golf Course across Loch Broom |
| Substation works | Refurbishment at Aultbea and equipment upgrade at Ullapool |
| Switching station | New build at Morefield Industrial Estate, Ullapool |
John Shanks, SSEN's Project Manager, said the new overhead lines are more robust and resilient and, with the ground works, will give engineers greater flexibility in restoring supplies:
"The new overhead lines we're putting in are more robust and resilient, and in conjunction with the work we'll be doing at our sites on the ground, will provide our engineers with greater flexibility in the ways they can restore customers' supplies should the power ever go off as we'll be able to reconfigure or "re-route" supplies away from the section where the fault has developed, reducing the length of time that customers are without power."
Donald MacKinnon, SSEN's Head of Large Capital Projects, said the investment is an essential part of the company's commitment to a low-carbon future, enabling continuing uptake of new technologies and ensuring a safe, secure and responsive network for existing and future customers across the North West Highlands1.
Why it matters for households
The work is aimed at the reliability of the electricity supply in this part of the North West Highlands, an area where the network is long and exposed. SSEN states the project is intended to make the infrastructure less susceptible to power cuts and to allow supplies to be re-routed away from a fault, which it says reduces the length of time customers are without power1. For a household, that bears on how dependable the supply is for lighting, heating controls, refrigeration and any equipment that depends on power.
The stated increase in network capacity is tied to a forecast rise in low carbon technologies including electric vehicles and heat pumps1. That is about the network's ability to carry the load such devices add, rather than about any change to a household's own supply arrangements. Details of how the upgrade affects individual connections, or of any local interruptions during construction, have not been reported1.
The project concerns electricity distribution in the North West Highlands. For general background on how distribution networks operate and how to identify the operator for a given area, see the national-supply hub, Who is my distribution network operator? and Gas Distribution Networks: Who Delivers Gas to Your Street.
What happens next
Main construction works are due to start towards the end of May 2022 and are scheduled to be completed in March the following year1.