OREANDA-NEWS. In December 2012 severe storms hit the area of Pitlochry and Blair Atholl affecting supply in the area. Since then, SSEPD has worked closely with Perth and Kinross Council and the local resilience partnership to identify ways of improving recovery should another severe weather incident take place.

As well as reinforcing the networks and investing in technology to minimise any future faults SSEPD has created a generation connection point at the Atholl Centre in Pitlochry. In the event of a lasting power outage, the connection point would allow SSEPD to connect a generator enabling the Atholl centre to act as a command centre for the local area.

In addition to the network reinforcements, SSEPD have worked closely with the Local Resilience Group to establish robust plans to combat a major storm, flood or other major incident.

Mark Macdonald led the project for SSEPD and explained: “Using the Atholl Centre as a strategic point in event of emergencies was actually suggested by the local community. We've been working closely with the community council, Perth and Kinross Council as well as the local resilience partnership and other stakeholders to look at ways of minimising disruption in the event of a major incident.

“The generator connection point will allow us to connect generation so providing power for emergency services who would be tasked with coordinating responses to emergency situations. We're extremely grateful to everyone who worked so hard to bring this project together."