As was highlighted in the media, a controversial power line intended to stretch from the Scottish Highlands to Central Scotland has been given the go-ahead, with Scottish Ministers approving the upgrade of the 220km Beauly-Denny line.
The decision follows eight years of applications, consultations, and the largest public enquiry in Scotland since devolution, and comes despite fierce opposition from conservation groups. Extensive conditions, such as the creation of an environmental liaison group and a community liaison scheme, have been imposed to protect the interests of communities and minimise the impact on the environment along the line.
Alternatives?
Although alternatives to the overhead line were discussed, the Scottish Government's technical assessor highlighted that, for undergrounding cables "undergrounding has the potential to cause greater damage to ecology and nature conservation interests" and "underground cables are many times more expensive to install than overhead lines".
In addition, the assessment was reached that sub-sea cables would not be efficient or economic, and it was highlighted by the technical assessor that the proposal to use sub-sea cabling as an alternative was flawed, as there would still be the need to reinforce the existing overhead line to harvest the generation of renewable energy between Beauly and Denny.
"Unlocking Potential"
Energy Minister Jim Mather told the Scottish Parliament that the Beauly Denny upgrade would unlock Scotland's onshore and offshore energy potential, and help Scotland secure its energy supply while allowing the country to continue to export the surplus.
The decision has been welcomed by the renewables industry. Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said that the upgrade could allow the development of some 6GW of additional renewable electricity generation in the north of Scotland - equivalent to almost double the entire renewables capacity in Scotland today.
Timescale
While approval has been granted, there are still outstanding issues that must be resolved. These include the construction or upgrading of six substations, some of which are still in the process of obtaining planning permission. Also, the Scottish Government will need to determine applications for 150 necessary wayleaves relating to the development, to allow access to install and maintain the line, and five Compulsory Purchase Orders covering the five planning authorities where the line will pass.
The consent states that construction of the line must begin within four years and that electricity transmission should begin within six years of the start of construction, so the upgraded line must be in place within 10 years. Colin Hood, chief operating officer of Scottish and Southern Energy (who will be undertaking the project), said that the company hoped to be in a position to get construction underway this summer.
A copy of the Scottish Government's news release can be found here (www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2010/01/06141510)
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
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The original publication date for this article was 08/01/2010.
