Overhead lines to be buried in Cairngorms villages
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FORTY-SIX pylons are to be removed from the Cairngorms National Park after the energy regulator approved two undergrounding projects.
Around 12km of overhead transmission lines near Boat of Garten and Nethy Bridge will be removed and replaced with underground cables.
The works will cost £31.9 million and are being funded as part of a £500 million scheme administered by the energy regulator, Ofgem. The scheme allows the three electricity transmission owners across Britain to bid for funding to mitigate the impact of historic electricity infrastructure in national parks and national scenic areas.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Transmission (SSEN Transmission), which operates the network in the north of Scotland, welcomed the funding.
Euan Smith, who is leading SSEN Transmission’s Visual Impact of Scottish Transmission Assets (Vista) project, said: “We are delighted Ofgem has approved our funding request to remove an additional 46 transmission towers, covering a combined distance of 12km, from the Cairngorms National Park.
“Once complete, the removal of this additional infrastructure will leave a lasting legacy for current and future generations by improving the visual amenity within one of Scotland’s most precious landscapes.
“We would like to thank all stakeholders who helped shape the development of our Cairngorm Vista schemes and we now look forward to progressing with these works, which we expect to complete by around 2020.”
As well as the two Cairngorms schemes, SSEN Transmission is working on several other engineering and landscaping proposals across its network as part of the Vista project. This includes schemes in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, and Loch Tummel and Loch Rannoch National Scenic Areas.
A spokesman for SSEN Transmission said: "The two overhead lines to be removed are located in areas of the Cairngorms that attract some of the largest numbers of visitors to the national park.
"Once removed, the visual amenity within the Cairngorms will be further enhanced, building on the removal of more than 300 towers, covering a distance of over 90km, as part of the Beauly-Denny project."
