Energy / Virtual consultations to be held on power connections for three wind farms
ONLINE consultation events are being held to gather views on plans to provide connections for three proposed wind farms in Shetland.
The connections relate to the consented Peel Energy wind farms in Yell and outside of Lerwick, as well as the proposed Energy Isles development, which does not yet have permission.
SSEN Transmission has a license requirement to provide connections to electricity generators looking to connect to the national grid.
Through initial surveys and analysis, it has identified ‘search areas’ in which to conduct further surveys to identify preferred routes for these connections.
The virtual consultation events will be presenting these search areas and the proposed technology for the connections, seeking feedback on these areas to help identify the best route for the new lines.
Environmental desk studies, walkovers and surveys will take place in 2020 and 2021 to provide information for overhead line routing.
Bird surveys started in April 2020 and will be ongoing for 18 months.
The project team will also be seeking feedback on the proposed location of a new 132kV switching station located in Yell.
The switching station is required to facilitate the connection of Yell wind farms to a new substation and HVDC converter station at Kergord via a subsea cable.
All of proposed wind farms are dependent on energy regulator Ofgem giving the green light to the 600MW interconnector which would connect Shetland to the UK mainland.
Project manager Steven McMillan said: “We are very early on in the development of the project and as a responsible developer, we are keen to work closely with the local community to identity the best route for these new connections.
“We encourage anyone who might be interested in our proposals to join the virtual consultations where you will be able to engage directly with our project team, via a live chat function, to ask any questions you might have about the project and share feedback on the current proposals.”
The virtual consultation events will be held on:
- 21 July 2pm – 4pm
- 22 July 10am – 12pm
- 22 July 6pm – 8pm
The Scottish Government’s energy consents unit, meanwhile, recently published a number of representations on plans for the Energy Isles wind farm in Yell.
However, they were submitted to the unit last year.
Among the representations are letters of both support and objection from members of the public.
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