Homes and businesses in the north of Dundee are set to benefit from a £825,000 investment by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), as the city's Lyndhurst substation undergoes a major refurbishment.
The project, which is being carried out in two phases between June 2020 and February next year, will see the substation's two existing transformers replaced, making local electricity supplies more robust and resilient as well as reducing the risk of power cuts.
Work on the first phase began earlier this month, with staff carrying out a wide range of 'enabling work' to ensure the site is ready for the delivery of the two new transformers, the first of which is scheduled to arrive in early Autumn.
During the coronavirus pandemic, SSEN Is adjusting the way it works, to keep its employees safe whilst ensuring a safe and reliable supply of electricity for its customers. The company is committed to minimising any impact on its customers as it goes about work that is critical to the resilience of the electricity network, and all engineering works and workplace activity are being undertaken in accordance with Government guidance, with staffobserving social distancing advice, and regularly wiping down all of their tools and PPE with sanitiser.
The new transformers, which will form a critical part of the electricity network supplying over 2,200 customers across the north of Dundee, are to be housed in new bunds (or 'containment areas') within the substation, and the first phase of the project is centred around constructing the first of these two bunds and the delivery of the first replacement transformer. In addition, teams will be excavating 'joint bays', which are small pits where SSEN staff will be working to join the new transformers onto the existing electricity cables which run beneath the site.
The next phase of the project, which is scheduled to commence late summer, will include the construction of the second bund in readiness for the delivery, installation and energisation of the other transformer.
John Thoms, SSEN's Project Delivery Manager, says that this project will go a long way to ensuring the company can continue to provide a safe, secure and reliable supply of electricity to homes and businesses across the north of Dundee, adding:
"These past few months have made us all realise just how much we rely on electricity, and here at SSEN we want to do all we can to make sure our network is in the best possible condition for our customers. This project, which has been many months in the planning, will see the existing transformers replaced with the most up-to-date versions, helping to make sure we can keep on providing the best possible service this coming winter and for many years to come."