SSEN Transmission completes new substation and transmission line
SSEN Transmission has completed the construction of the new Dalchork Substation and overhead line between Lairg and Loch Buidhe.
Image source: SSEN Transmission
UK, Scotland: SSEN Transmission has completed the construction of the new Dalchork Substation and overhead line between Lairg and Loch Buidhe.
The project will help connect more renewable electricity to the grid and contribute to the fight against climate change. SSEN Transmission, with contractors Balfour Beatty and Wood Group, have been working on it since 2019, and it consists of four main elements.
Work included constructing a new 132 kV substation at Dalchork, 3 km north of Lairg, and replacing the existing cables on top of the existing pylons between Cassley and Lairg. Around 16 km of 132 kV overhead line was built from the new substation at Dalchork to the Loch Buidhe Substation, near Bonar Bridge. All new assets are in place and operational, while the old 132 kV overhead lines and 36 towers between Lairg Grid Supply point (GSP) substation and Shin Substation at Inveran will be decommissioned and removed. The new substation at Dalchork also incorporates the Creag Riabhach Windfarm overhead line connection, completed in 2022.
Consideration has been made to preserve the area in which Dalchork substation is located, with the substation being built into the slope of the land so it is naturally screened by the landscape. The substation has been designed with space available to accommodate any future renewable energy developments in the area.
400,000 tonnes of bedrock at the site were crushed and reused to form the substation platform and permanent access road, limiting the amount of material which was required to be imported to site using HGVs, and removing the need for any materials to be taken offsite for disposal. Environmental work took place to ensure the impact on the local wildlife, fauna and flora was kept to a minimum at all times during all phases of the project.
Source: SSEN Transmission
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