Council / Grid connection uncertainty slows SIC’s transition from fossil fuel vehicles
SHETLAND Islands Council (SIC) has had to take its foot off the accelerator regarding its plans to “green” its fleet of cars and small vans due to uncertainty with getting grid connections for new electric vehicle (EV) chargers.
The council was keen to install a new EV charger at the North Haven care home in Brae as it continues to expand its network of charging points.
But officers had previously been told by power company SSEN that it could only be connected to the grid in a couple of years time.
This was due to works on the local network which are only expected to be completed in 2027.
But after SSEN Distribution was contacted by Shetland News about the issue it appears the energy giant has changed its stance somewhat – seemingly paving the way for a charger to be installed at the care home, but initially at a lower capacity.
There is a similar issue for the UK Government funded Rural Energy Hub project at the revamped Brae Youth Centre, which aims to include EV chargers in a suite of measures to support the transition to net zero.
A charger has been installed there but it is currently using the existing building connection and will run at a “throttled back” power initially.
Meanwhile uncertainty over grid connections is said to be a key reason behind new figures which reveal that the SIC actually had less electric vehicles in 2024/25 compared to the year before.
The SIC’s environment and estate operations manager Carl Symons said this uncertainty meant that the focus of the local authority’s “greening the fleet” project moved to existing charging infrastructure and new vehicles which have a longer range so they do not need to charge as frequently.
He said by 2027 the council should “theoretically be 30 per cent of the way through [the greening the fleet programme], but we’re not going to be”.
“We’re probably going to be 15 per cent,” Symons said.
“It’s going to slow us down dramatically, I suspect.”
It is understood that the SIC was told back in July that connecting a charger at North Haven to the grid was “dependent” on the competition of SSEN works, expected in early 2027.
Shetland News asked SSEN about the apparent issues with grid connections in Brae last month.
In response, a spokesperson for SSEN Distribution pointed to the Shetland North Mainlnd reinforcement project which is due to be completed in 2027.
This project includes connecting Sullom Voe Terminal to the grid for the first time, and increasing the resilience and capacity of the network in the North Mainland.
Work on the reinforcement project began earlier this year with cabling in the central mainland.
SSEN will be constructing a new switching station at Quoys of Garth, carrying out upgrades to our substations at Firth and Mid Yell as well as minor reconfigurations of existing overhead lines.
The spokesperson also said that it was inaccurate to say it was not possible to connect EV chargers at Brae until 2027, adding that the “project to connect chargers there is now progressing to connection”.
However, it is understood that SSEN got in touch with the council after being contacted by Shetland News to say a connection at North Haven was actually available, but only on a limited 69kVa power until 2027.
Symons explained that North Haven is the first location for new charging infrastructure under the council’s ‘greening the fleet’ programme.
He said the plan was to “transition all of Brae in one go, and train all the drivers in one go and do a proper transition of the entire fleet”.
The plan was to get new electric vehicles suited to the appropriate day to day mileage, but due to the grid uncertainty the focus switched to longer range ones to make use of the fewer charging facilities available.
Figures from a climate update report presented to councillors last month said the percentage of fleet vehicles fuelled from “clean sources” decreased from 15.13 per cent in 2023/24 to 13.02 per cent in 2024/25.
Over this time the use of grid electricity by fleet vehicles also decreased by 30 per cent.
In 2024/25 16 petrol vehicles were added to the fleet, with one electric vehicle sold.
For the Brae rural energy hub project at the village’s youth centre – which aims to support people’s transition to net zero – an electric vehicle charger is physically in place.
Climate change strategy team leader Claire Ferguson said the council is still awaiting a new power enclosure to be installed outside the youth centre building and the upgraded power cable from the sub-station to be installed and hooked up by SSEN before the charger can go into service.
But it will initially be at “throttled back” at reduced capacity until the grid upgrades are completed by SSEN in 2027.
“Very soon it will be able to be used, but it won’t be able to operate at its full capacity until grid upgrades take place,” Ferguson said.
Two rapid chargers, each 80kW, were fully funded through the Rural Energy Hub project – including all associated works with install.
“A stipulation of the funding was that they needed to be energised and operating by the end of the project to comply with funding terms and conditions,” Ferguson explained.
“It was therefore important to get them installed and operating at the reduced capacity, so that we have the infrastructure in place for a time when the grid is upgraded and can provide the required capacity.”
Meanwhile Symons also said there are some vehicles in the SIC fleet which do not have fossil-fuel replacements available.
One example given was Volkswagen caddy style vans which have special disabled access, with the only replacements on the market electric ones.
“There are some vehicles that are just not possible to obtain as fossil fuel vehicles,” Symons said.
“We’re having to transition, but part of the problem we’ve got is we’ve got doubts about our ability to upgrade charging points. It’s a bit of a blockage.”
Meanwhile Scottish Power has confirmed that it has been appointed to manager the wider EV charging network in Argyll and Bute, the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.
ScottishPower will take on the roles of mapping, payment provider, charge point management system and driver helpline at more than 120 charging points as the publicly funded Charge Point Scotland (CPS) contract comes to an end.
The company said this will apply to 27 charging points in Shetland.
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