08 January 2010

The Scottish Government finally made a decision over the controversial Beauly to Denny transmission line. On Wednesday 6 January the scheme was given the go-ahead with permissions being granted to both Scottish Power and Scottish Southern Energy.
Minister for Energy Jim Mather MSP consented the Beauly-Denny Transmission Upgrade after years of wrangling and high profile campaigning from communities, NGO's and energy companies.

Follow the link to the Scottish Government's Decision papers.

ScottishGovernment: Beauly to Denny Transmission 2010 1.61 Mb

The Beauly to Denny project is an upgrade to an existing power line from 132kV to 400kV. This will bring the line up to the same capacity of the main arterial routes in Scotland’s and the UK’s electricity transmission network

Along with other planned grid improvements set out in the second National Planning Framework, the upgrade will allow the connection of some additional 6 GigaWatts of renewable electricity in the north of Scotland.

The replacement towers are larger than existing ones, but vary in size along the route. The height of the new towers will range from 42 metres to 65 metres, depending on the topography and the altitude. The height of the towers on the existing line ranges from 25 metres to 41 metres

The construction of the line is likely to take around four years. A further year will be required to dismantle the existing line, including the removal of existing foundations and the reinstatement of ground cover.

The news was met with mixed views with the industry congratulating the decision, a number of NGO's including WWF Scotland supporting the decision and dismay from some campaigners including a group of NGO's in the environment sector .

Some of the newspaper articles and debates are listed below.

The Scotsman
Press and Journal
The Herald
The Guardian

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