Homes and businesses across the north of Skye now have an even more robust and reliable overhead electricity network, along with greater network capacity to meet the increase in local customer demand and support the expansion of homes and businesses in the area.

We started on this major project - along with our contract partner Aureos - last autumn and the replacement lines were fully energised in the middle of August. 

With unpredictable weather conditions making the day-to-day work a challenge, the decision to incorporate a helicopter into the project plans has played a significant role in minimising any impact on Skye’s world-famous peatlands. The helicopter was deployed to deliver the new poles to each individual spot along the route and then remove the old ones once the line was energised, avoiding the need for hundreds of road journeys by lorries and other vehicles. 

And when teams needed to visit the individual poles, they travelled back and forward on vehicles with Low Ground Pressure tracks - which were specially chosen for this project - to minimise their impact on the environment,  as well as for safety reasons to avoid sinking.

SSEN Distribution’s Project Manager, John Shanks was born and grew up on Skye – he tells us more about the work that’s been going on.

“Growing up on Skye, I can still remember the previous line being installed back in the late 1980s. That kit was now approaching the end of its scheduled working life, so this project has been an essential programme of work for people living in the north of Skye – not just for today and tomorrow, but for many years to come.

“As well as making supplies even more reliable in areas including Portree, Dunvegan, Uig and Edinbane, a major part of this project has seen us provide extra network capacity. This increase in capacity is vital, not just for households looking to install an EV charger or solar panels, but on a wider scale it can support the expansion of houses and businesses based on Skye.”

We caught up with John on Skye as teams from Aureos were working with the helicopter crew on the decommissioning phase of the project – removing the old poles from their spots along the route to a secluded lay-down area, where the steelworks and porcelain insulators were removed for recycling.
You can watch our video from the day above.