SSE Completes Pentland Firth East Cable Replacement Project

A £30million project to replace one of two submarine electricity distribution cables connecting Orkney to mainland Scotland is now complete.

SSE’s networks business SSEN has installed the new 37km cable ensuring strengthened resilience of electricity supply to the islands ahead of winter.

The development involved significant offshore works using specialist marine vessels – the Normand Clipper and Global Symphony – working with principal contractor, Global Offshore, to successfully install and bury the 33 kilovolt (kV) cable between Murkle Bay, near Thurso and Rackwick Bay on the island of Hoy.

Working in partnership with Aviemore-based McGowan Environmental Engineering Ltd, the installation of the new subsea cable also allowed for the removal of approximately 7km of existing overhead power lines in Rackwick, Hoy, which have now been replaced by underground cable. The existing overhead line will be dismantled in the coming weeks.

Local firms Pentland Ferries and storage and distribution specialists McAdie and Reeve played a key role in the successful delivery of the land cable works, with a bulk cargo vessel chartered to deliver 5,000 tonnes of high specification sand to Lyness harbour, and almost 30 large items of equipment and vehicles shipped from Gills Bay to Lyness under specialist charter on Pentland Ferries’ MV Pentalina.