High Voltage Investment For Scotland

ScottishPower has submitted proposals to the energy regulator Ofgem outlining £3 billion of planned investments on its high voltage transmission electricity network in Scotland over the next 10 years.

Projects will include the connection of up to 5GW of renewable energy, helping Scotland to achieve its 2020 carbon reduction targets, and extensive upgrades to the electricity grid links between England and Scotland.

The company has also said that this investment in Scotland will create around 1500 new jobs, including substantial recruitment of apprentices and retraining of under25s into highly skilled jobs in over the next decade.

Four out of five energy industry employees are set to retire over the next 15 years and ScottishPower is committed to a major recruitment drive to encourage a new generation of workers in to the industry as well as supporting its contractors and companies in the wider supply chain to do likewise.

First Minister Alex Salmond said: "I warmly welcome this announcement. Scottish Power's plans to upgrade transmission will ensure the grid is capable of carrying increasing supplies of clean green energy generated to domestic and European markets.

"With plans to harness up to 10 Gigawatts of offshore capacity in Scottish waters by 2020, alongside other renewable sources, it will be essential that generators can distribute power to where it is needed.

"These plans will create hundreds of new jobs and underline the company's commitment to Scotland, as we work together to pursue a low carbon future for these islands and Europe."

In order to support Scotland's ambition to generate the equivalent of 100% of its own electricity demand from renewable resources by 2020, ScottishPower has proposed to invest significantly in the power lines and cables that are needed to support their connection to the grid.

Under the proposals, the company would be able to connect up to 5GW of new renewable energy projects to the grid in the ScottishPower area and around 11GW across the whole of Scotland.

In total across Scotland this will accommodate renewable generation capacity equivalent to four times the size of Longannet power station in Fife, currently the largest electricity generator in Scotland.

Included within the submission are a number of strategically important major projects that the company plans to deliver in the next decade, including increasing the transmission capacity between Scotland and England to at least 6.6GW, allowing the transfer of nearly three times more electricity than is currently possible.

(CD)