The ‘Stalinist’ net zero companies accused of desecrating the Highlands 

The current Lord Lovat, Simon Fraser, has allowed SSEN to carry out exploratory works on his land, which will provide the location for the proposed new substation. The move has led to some locals to complain of “SSE stress” because of the disruption caused, and the fear of what will become of their area.

In the 18th century, the 11th Lord Lovat, also called Simon Fraser – and nicknamed “The Old Fox” – was executed for his role in the Jacobite rebellion. And interest in the era and the Fraser family has surged in recent years with the success of the historical drama Outlander, which focuses on the life of a fictional member of the Fraser clan.

Having just returned in its seventh series, the drama – which is particularly popular in America – mines the romance of the area, which seems a far fry from the day-to-day experiences of locals, who accuse the current Lord Lovat of latter-day Highland Clearances.

Because of his seeming compliance with the wishes of SSEN, they fear that their idyll will be ruined by more pylons, at least one huge, buzzing substation, and thousands of extra trucks a year as their Highlands are “industrialised”.

They point to how the current Lord Lovat has himself submitted a planning application for an electricity storage facility on his own land.

Harrow-educated Simon Fraser, 47 – whose Lovat Estate was named as having links to off-shore companies in the 2016 Panama Papers tax avoidance scandal, and who is married to Petra Palumbo, daughter of the former Arts Council chairman Peter Palumbo – has applied for a “BESS”, a battery energy storage system, to be built at his Balblair Quarry. And the Lovat Estate website proclaims: “We support battery development as a necessity of a renewables based electricity grid. They have very small footprints meaning minimal loss of productive land or amenity, and can be hidden easily if put in sensible locations.”

But locals say that they feel “under occupation”, as convoys of vans and construction vehicles – as well as swarms of aircraft, including drones and helicopters – threaten the once-tranquil Loch Ness wildlife haven.

For it’s not just the SSEN substation on the Lovat Estate and its associated lines of pylons – and Simon Fraser’s quarry project – that they are having to contend with. The race to net zero has sparked a host of new eco-projects in the north of Scotland, which already has a number of wind farms. So much so that campaigners say that Highland Council has been so deluged with planning applications that it cannot cope.

Even on Beauly’s doorstep, German wind farm company Energiekontor has applied for permission for a wind farm of 36 turbines up to 230m high at Ballach, only four miles from the village.

And at Loss Ness itself, a proposed £3 billion hydroelectric power project is being objected to over threats to salmon and ancient woodland.

Locals describe PTSD-like symptoms because of financial and mental anguish, as they worry about the future of their homes, land and businesses.

Under the 1989 UK Electricity Act, energy firms can buy land under compulsory purchase if what they want to do is deemed necessary.

The march of infrastructure in Scotland for renewable energy has gone hand in hand with the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) time in power at Holyrood.

One Loch Ness local, who wanted to stay anonymous, pointed out that the company had recently revealed £714 million pre-tax earnings in the six months to September, as people struggle with their bills.

“Thanks to SSE, people really struggle to heat their homes, and now the Highlands people are worried they’re going to steamroller in and rob them of their assets and drive them from their land, unchallenged.

“What they’re doing is putting people in a state of fear and alarm.”

Lord Lovat has also had to deal with animosity from locals because he shut off parts of his land to walkers by closing a car park that people used for dog walking.

A business owner particularly affected by SSEN’s plans is Tony Davidson, 57, who runs Kilmorack Gallery near Beauly. He moved from Edinburgh in 1995 and has grown his Scottish art gallery, which now has a worldwide client list.

“We have been living in fear,” says Davidson. “This latest substation will have a footprint the size of Glasgow airport. What they’re doing is heart-wrenching. It is a feeling of colonisation. I’m having attacks of sadness on a regular basis, many others are too.

“I went to see my doctor because I’m worried about the health implications. No one should die early because of this.

“By 8am, I hear the roar of an army of 4x4s and trucks who are already scoping to build a bridge outside my small cottage. I start work at 5am, full of energy, so I can get time before hell wakes up and it is impossible to focus.”

He claims that if SSEN receives planning permission for the substation and the new lines of pylons, “they will destroy what is most precious – our ancient hills, nature and our close-knit communities.

“They are ready to desecrate lands that should be protected because of their environmental and spiritual significance, including early Christian sites. There are many things buried under this ground.

“It would be a sacrilege for SSE and both the Scottish and UK governments to be allowed to show such a disregard for our history, our land, the environment and the people who have built their lives here.”

He points to Lord Lovat’s apparent compliance with SSEN’s wishes and Highland Council’s apparent willingness to wave through whatever the company wants, setting a precedent of other companies with “eco-projects”. He claims “there’s no one powerful body keeping an eye on what’s happening. The council will soon be overwhelmed with thousands of planning applications from every type of ‘big energy’.”

He added that the council was already deluged by requests for projects. “They are drowning in applications and are struggling to cope.”

“The actions arising from the Motion agreed at Council on 29 September 2024 are currently being progressed by Officers within the Place Service,” a Highland Council spokesperson says. “The Report to Council on 31 October 2024 advised on the practical implications of the request in terms of timescale and costs. These will determine how quickly the actions will be progressed.”

Meanwhile, another local complains that, unlike politicians, you can’t vote out an energy giant, even though they have been granted compulsory purchase powers. “They are asserting more and more claim to your lives using the powers in the 1989 Electricity Act,” the local said. “It’s got shades of Stalinism.”

Loch Ness residents have been inundated by an army of “contractors” doing work in the area, and they say it feels as if they are in the Wild West or something akin to the Klondike Gold Rush.

But there is rebellion against SSEN’s plans stirring in the hills and mountains. In March, a local shinty team refused a grant from SSE because they objected to plans for the proposed Fanellan substation, which would be on Lord Lovat’s land.

And campaigners are taking an uncompromising stand against the Fanellan plans, which they fear will wreak havoc on their livelihoods, homes and the environment.

Communities B4 Power Companies campaigner Lyndsey Ward began opposing power companies after becoming alarmed by the appearance of more and more energy speculators.

Along with other people, she is calling for a public inquiry over the SSEN Lovat Estate plans.

“We now have around 50 landowners, who have come to us scared they’re going to lose their assets because SSEN have decided they want to put their industrial junk on their land. It’s scandalous.”

She said that the locals would not let compulsory purchases go ahead without a fight. “These landowners intend to tie SSEN up in legal red tape for years if they are given planning permission, because they are refusing to give up their land to them.

“A public inquiry would be the best option, because then we can get all the cards on the table.

“They’ve lived their lives on this land, and none of us want to be the next Highland Clearances.

“Multinational corporations demand we accept more and more massive swooshing wind turbines, with demonic red flashing lights.

“These buzzing eyesores are connected to a metallic jungle of transmission lines and sprawling substations, displacing and killing off wildlife.”

Of her own story, she said: “We came to Scotland in 2007 and moved to the amazing and beautiful Highlands and have been forced to try and defend it against the greedy profit-driven multinationals.

“We feel that SSE have us under occupation,” Ward adds. “When I am at home, I hear helicopters hovering overhead, light aircraft weaving backwards and forwards and drones buzzing across the land.”

“As I travel around the Highlands, I see the heartbreaking scars of industrialisation creeping across the landscape. The navy and green vehicles belonging to SSE are everywhere.

“I am either passing them parked at the side of the road, being overtaken by them, behind them or in a queue with at least one of them.

She says that SSEN wants to put a “massive 60m-high pylon line close to our land”

“There are transporters with diggers and other large machinery careering around our narrow roads pushing me and others into the side, sometimes even off the edge of the road as they pass.”

Ward has a smallholding: a local farmer brings his sheep there to graze. “We have planted around 3,000 native trees and have areas of regeneration,” she adds. “We have protected red kites, curlews, pine martens, red squirrels and deer all living here peacefully.

“All across the area people are distraught about the prospect of further industrialisation including more wind turbines. It makes no sense to destroy our iconic Highlands with even more.”

A spokesperson for the Lovat Estate, maintains that “SSEN, as with other statutory bodies, can use compulsory purchase order (CPO) powers to enable the delivery of strategically important projects. Emboldened by the Scottish and central Government’s desire to achieve net zero, plus the recently enacted National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), SSEN would likely use these powers at Beauly given this is a project of national importance.”

While an SSEN Transmission spokesperson says: “The National Electricity System Operator (NESO) confirmed the need for a new 400kV substation and HVDC converter station in the Beauly area, as part of its Holistic Network Design.” They say the proposed site at Fanellan was identified as “the best solution from an environmental and technical perspective, providing connections for onshore and offshore transmission projects that will help the UK achieve energy security by reducing reliance on volatile global gas markets.

“It is common for us to work with landowners to acquire land for substations or rights for overhead lines but we cannot be drawn on individual commercial details,” the spokesperson adds. “We continue to consult extensively with the local community and key stakeholders over our plans…We are committed to supporting local organisations who approach us for assistance, either directly through our community liaison team or via other funding avenues such as the SSEN Transmission regional community benefit fund.

Ward, meanwhile, also put the blame on the Scottish government (as well as SSEN) for the threat to the Highlands. “Ofgem and SSEN told us the new lines going overground are because of the Scottish government’s onshore wind policy. The Scottish government want thousands more onshore turbines in our communities and that is why we are faced with pylons and the massive substations like Fanellan.”

“The Scottish government could stop all this through 100 per cent devolved planning if they wished to. The UK Government cannot force anything to be built in Scotland if the Scottish government says no.

“It’s just wrong that an energy company has so much power and the money to quash anybody who stands in their way. Scotland does not need any more wind turbines. It has enough generation several times over. We don’t hear much objection from Lord Lovat himself. We feel he’s sold us down the river.”

Their first victory came this autumn in a fight with the Highland Council, which rarely objects to work carried out by SSEN.

Sixty community councils from all over the Highlands carried through a council motion brought by Tory councillor, lawyer Helen Crawford, that would bring greater transparency regarding planning applications.

“The motion reflects a significant plea from people across the Highlands for enhanced democratic input and a meaningful say over what is happening to their way of life and the land we love,” says Crawford. “That should be respected.”

The move came as calls were made for the SNP leader of Highland Council, Raymond Bremner, to resign after accusations of an alleged conflict of interest. He has a seat on the council’s planning committee but opened an “SSEN hub” in Inverness.

He has been reported to Scotland’s Ethical Standards Commission, which said it would not comment on the matter.

If anything positive does come of the row, it will be of little comfort to one local, whose life has already been turned upside down by what they see as the desecration of the Highlands. “Whenever I hear the name SSE or SSEN,” they say, “I shudder”.