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Orkney subsea power link to mainland gets go-ahead

SSEN The NKT Victoria Shetland - a subsea cable-laying vessel.SSEN
The NKT Victoria laying a subsea cable to Shetland

A high-voltage subsea power cable to carry renewable energy from Orkney to mainland Scotland has been approved in principle by regulators.

Power firm SSEN formally requested to lay the cable in 2018, but first had to demonstrate to the energy regulator Ofgem that it would be used.

Orkney granted consent for six new wind farms which helped secure approval.

It is seen as an important step in tackling climate change by harnessing the islands' abundant wind resource.

The power the wind turbines generate can be exported along the cable to the National Grid, Britain's energy distribution system.

Orkney Islands Council estimated it could be worth £371m to the local economy over 45 years.

The plan is for an underground cable to take power from the Finstown substation to Warebeth/Billia Croo, west of Stromness, on the Orkney mainland.

This would then connect via a subsea cable to Dounreay on the Caithness coast, about 40 miles away.

SSEN said it was a £400m project that is expected to be complete by 2027/28.

Getty Images Shetland wind farmGetty Images
The project would export electricity from Orkney

The project means interconnectors carrying electricity will run from Scotland's three largest island groups - Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

Between all three links, the cables will carry enough electricity to power more than 2.5 million homes.

Ofgem gave the go-ahead in 2020 for a link from Shetland and construction is underway.

The Western Isles project is larger than initially planned. SSEN is reassessing the onshore elements it needs.

Orkney's interconnector is the smallest of the three with a capacity of 220 megawatts, enough to power 250,000 homes.

The cable from Shetland is almost three times bigger at 600 megawatts while the Western Isles will see a huge 1.8 gigawatt link.

It will be used to carry offshore electricity from ScotWind developments as well as onshore islands' wind power.

Ofgem said it was "minded to approve" the Orkney link subject to a short consultation. This is expected to be a formality.

Rob McDonald, managing director of SSEN Transmission, described the decision as a hugely significant milestone in finally unlocking Orkney's vast renewable potential.

He said: "Scotland's island groups are home to some of world's greatest resources of renewable energy and we have long supported the need to provide transmission connections to help unlock their abundant potential."