SSEN denies Kergord fault speculation

SSEN has denied rumours its Kergord substation has been offline due to a fault at the site, saying instead it was a planned outage.

Online commentors have noted that a large number of the Viking wind farm turbines have not been turning this week, despite the strong wind.

That, coupled with workers being seen working on the Kergord substation, have led to concerns that the substation had developed a fault.

SSEN Transmission said however it was a “pre-planned outage”, with the HVDC cable which links Shetland to the mainland expected to be back in operation in the coming days.

“As part of the commissioning strategy and early operation of the Shetland high-voltage direct current (HVDC) link, SSEN Transmission is required to carry out planned inspections on the high-voltage equipment installed at Kergord which began energisation throughout the summer,” a spokesperson for SSEN Transmission said.

“To do this safely, we have a pre-planned outage programme with the electrical system operator and in conjunction with Viking Energy, which allows the teams to safely enter the high voltage areas of the system to complete the planned inspections and checks.

“Once completed, the link will resume full service with the electrical system operator.”