December 8, 2021
Scotland

Overhead powers lines proposed through Badenoch wilderness to connect two wind farms to Grid

By Gavin Musgrove | Strathspey & Badenoch Herald | 07 December 2021 | www.strathspey-herald.co.uk

The public is being invited to share their views on plans to instal three new connections from wind farm developments in the area as well as upgrade a substation located at Melgarve.

The project is needed to connect the Glenshero, Cloiche and Dell wind farms into the existing Melgarve 400/132kV substation sited around seven miles from Laggan.

The so-called Melgarve Cluster will enable electricity to be exported from these wind farms through the Monadhliaths to the national power grid.

Around 5.5 kilometres of underground cable is proposed to be constructed to connect Glenshero wind farm to the substation.

But there will be 11 kilometres of overhead line required to connect Cloiche wind farm and 16 kilometres of overhead line required to connect Dell wind farm if the project is approved.

Gayle Bennie, SSEN Transmission Project Manager, said: “The proposed Melgarve Cluster project will allow us to connect three new proposed wind farm developments in the area to the transmission network.

“This will allow the transportation of renewable electricity from where it’s generated to where it’s needed, supporting the transition to net zero emissions and the fight against climate change.

“As a responsible developer, we are committed to working with the local community as we continue to develop our proposals and we would encourage anyone who is interested in finding out more about our plans to come along to one of our virtual consultation sessions on Wednesday 8th December, or drop in to one our face-to-face sessions in January in Laggan or Fort Augustus.”

There is a virtual consultation tomorrow with two in-person events planned to take place in January.

A SSEN spokesperson said: “The online virtual consultation events will be held between 1pm-3pm and 5pm-7pm, and have been designed to be fully interactive, allowing for presentation of key project information and plans.

Visitors will be able to engage directly with the project team via a live instant messaging chat function, where they can ask any questions they might have about the project and share their feedback on the current proposals.”

The in-person public exhibitions will take place on Monday 10 January at Fort Augustus Village Hall between 2pm-7pm, and at Laggan Community Hall on Tuesday 11 January between 2pm-7pm.

This is an open-door drop-in session for anyone interested in learning more about the proposals.

To find out more about the project visit: Melgarve Cluster (ssen-transmission.co.uk)

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2021/12/08/overhead-powers-lines-proposed-through-badenoch-wilderness-to-connect-two-wind-farms-to-grid/