Work starts to put cables underground
51 pylons will go as part of Beauly-Denny‘legacy’
Work began this week on a £25 million project to remove 51 electricity pylons from land between Stirling and Falkirk.
The 132-kilowatt line carried by the pylons, some up to 115ft tall, will be replaced by over 10 miles of underground cable.
Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN), which is carrying out the work, say it is an agreed “legacy” from the installation of the 137-mile BeaulyDenny line and aimed at modernising a key link in the transmission network.
However, some campaigners want to know why SPEN has agreed to underground this stretch of cable when calls for burial of parts of the BeaulyDenny line – where it passed through sensitive areas such as the Ochils and Wallace Monument – were rejected.
Preparatory work on installing ducting for the new line commenced on Monday.
Cable will be laid along a route starting at SPEN’s electricity substation at Springkerse Industrial Estate then heading north under the River Forth to Manor Powis and south on a route near the A91, the A905 and the A9 through Plean to Glenbervie.
Only once the cable installation and associated works are complete will the demolition of the 51 pylons commence.
An SPEN spokesman said the cable installation work will be carried out in phases between now and mid-2018 with underground ducting being installed prior to cable sections being pulled through the ducts.
Permission to carry out the “complex” project has been agreed by Stirling and Falkirk councils and SPEN warn it will require extensive traffic management. It is due to be completed by mid-2018, barring any unforeseen delays.
Construction of the Beauly-Denny powerline was completed at the end of 2015 at a cost of £820m. It carries electricity from windfarms and other renewable energy schemes in the north to consumers in the south.
Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission, part of SSEN, completed the 124-mile stretch, from Beauly to Braco while SPEN constructed the 12-mile section from the Wharry Burn across Stirling Council area to a new sub-station in Denny.
There were 20,000 objections to the scheme, many from people concerned about the impact of the landscape of the 615 pylons, measuring between 137ft and 213ft that were used to carry cables. During the planning process, SSEN said cables beneath ground were more prone to faults and took, on average much longer to repair than overhead lines. Laying the cables also involved “motorway-width disturbance” and the movement of considerable volumes of soil.
Scottish Power also rejected calls to run cables beneath ground in the Stirling area, a stance backed by the Scottish Government. Instead, a package of environmental measures designed to mitigate the impact of the pylons was agreed.
Dr Nicki Baker, who was a spokesman on Beauly-Denny for Friends of the Ochils, said any instance of “ugly eyesore” electricity pylons being replaced by underground cabling was to be welcomed.
She remarked that SPEN had described the removal of the pylons as “significant transformation in the environment”.
“What they don’t say, of course, is how much more significant a transformation – for the worse – has been imposed on the environment by all the giant pylons and thick overhead cabling they insisted on using for the upgraded Beauly-Denny power line,” she added.
“If only they had listened to what all the people were telling them: that they should use undergrounding to improve, and not damage, the special landscapes of the Dumyat area of the Ochil Hills.”
A SPEN spokesman said: “Decisions on the development of an overhead line (Beauly-Denny) and the delivery of appropriate mitigation were made by the Scottish Government following a lengthy consenting process and a public inquiry.
“SP Energy Networks are delivering the whole project, including wirescape rationalisation, in line with consent given by Scottish ministers under Section 37 of The Electricity Act (1989).”