OREANDA-NEWS. In February this year we published our consultation 'Connecting Orkney - Electricity Network Reinforcement' seeking views from a wide range of stakeholders on the electricity network on Orkney and options for reinforcement.

The Consultation outlined potential options for network reinforcement and generated a good response from a range of interest who were supportive of finding a solution with 63% in favour of a new distribution link and 71% in favour of either a distribution, transmission or both being developed. 48% believed there was a special case for adopting a different approach for connecting emerging technology such as wave or tidal.

David Gardner, Director of Transmission, said: “There is widespread recognition that no single party can resolve the outstanding issues. We are already actively working with Orkney Islands Council, the UK and Scottish Government, the regulator and other interested parties to help overcome the issues that continue to stand in the way of developing a transmission link to Orkney. We have had significant notes of interest from developers of onshore wind which could help to support the case for a link and we will progress discussions with developers and Orkney Islands Council regarding this.”

Stuart Hogarth, Director of Distribution, added: “Whilst it is clear that a single distribution reinforcement would not provide an overall solution, we will continue to work with government, Orkney Islands Council and developers to look at funding options.”

We will now, amongst other initiatives, work with Orkney Islands Council and developers to understand the amount of onshore wind that could be developed within planning and environmental constraints in order to justify a transmission reinforcement and with Scottish Government and, if appropriate, the European Union, on funding for a distribution reinforcement.