No new substation hub locations being considered

SSEN says there are no new sites under consideration for its proposed large substation hub in the North Mainland of Shetland.

It comes after it emerged that SSEN was investigating Braewick as a possible landfall site for the proposed second HVDC subsea cable, which could run between Shetland and the Scottish mainland.

A substation hub – with a platform sized at around 40 hectares – has been proposed for the North Mainland, which would include a converter station for the second HVDC cable as well as substations for other projects such as offshore wind farms to the east of Shetland.

Four sites which have been under consideration for this large substation hub focus on the Scatsta and Toft areas.

However, there have been some questions raised over whether the hub could end up moving towards the Eshaness area if the HVDC cable came ashore at Braewick due to the distance from the landfall site to Scatsta/Toft.

But SSEN Transmission has confirmed to Shetland News that it is still considering only the four sites.

These sites are described as Scatsta airfield, Scatsta Ness, Fraw Houll (to the south west of the former airport) and Toft Camp.

The project is said to be in the early stages of development and no decisions have been made for the infrastructure.

Although SSEN said under this scenario the HVDC cable would come ashore at Braewick and then run underground to the proposed northern substation hub, the idea has drawn concern from local politicians, election candidates and members of the community.

The area is known for its known for its geology and natural beauty.

At this stage, however, no decisions have been made and marine surveys are planned as part of routine early development works.

Other landfall sites under consideration for the second HVDC cable include Wethertsa and Toft Ness.