Kyber Road Substation after the investment to increase the reliability of power supplies to homes and businesses in Mallaig
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has completed a series of electricity substation replacements across Mallaig, increasing the reliability of supply to homes and businesses across the village.
The works, which commenced last March, involved the complete replacement of critical electrical infrastructure at seven locations across Mallaig, the replacement of equipment in the main substation powering the village, and the installation of innovative automation equipment that will enable quicker restoration times in the event of a power cut.
Mallaig's proximity to the sea means that SSEN's equipment is exposed to the elements and the salt water can cause erosion to its assets. The substations, which have been powering the homes and businesses of Mallaig since the 1970s, have been installed with Glass-fibre Reinforced Polyester (GRP) enclosures, otherwise known as 'Pizza Huts' to give them a much greater level of protection from the west coast weather in the future.
Project Manager Lachie Innes, from SSEN'S Fort William depot, explains more:
"We invest in our infrastructure to improve and strengthen the resilience of our network as we understand the importance of power to our customers' lives."
"In addition to the substation replacements, we have installed automation equipment which enables us to remotely control our equipment from our control room in Perth. This hugely reduces the fault restoration times on this network as previously our teams would have to travel from Fort William before they could begin fault switching to restore power to our customers in stages. This journey takes at least 75 minutes."
"This targeted investment will better protect our equipment, allow for remote fault location, enable the connection of generators if required and ultimately strengthen the electricity network in Mallaig for years to come."
SSEN has also installed equipment at East Bay Substation which will allow the easy connection of a high voltage mobile diesel generator in the event of a power cut, enabling faster restoration of power supplies to the village.