Faulty 19 mile-long Harris to Skye subsea cable replaced

Specialist ships were needed during the £28m project

A subsea electricity cable between the islands of Harris and Skye affected by a fault last October has been replaced.

The new 33 kilovolt (kV) cable has gone live following a £28m project by energy company SSEN Distribution.

Since October, customers on Harris have been supplied with electricity by back-up power stations at Battery Point and Arnish on Lewis.

The fault also stopped power being exported from Lewis and Harris renewable schemes to the mainland grid.

The new cable runs from Beacravik on Harris to Ardmore on Skye. Beaches dug up at both locations during the work have been reinstated to their "natural state".

SSEN Distribution said repairing the broken cable was ruled out because the fault had occurred on part of the powerline 100m (382ft) underwater.

The company said laying the new cable had required "significant offshore work" using specialist marine vessels.

The new link was laid between the islands of Harris in the Western Isles and Skye

SSEN Distribution had considered a new 132kV link, but the work involved would have seen the cable not going live until February 2023 at the earliest.

The company said this would have left customers and communities "exposed to undue risk over three winters" as well as being unable to resume renewable electricity export.  

It said the decision to proceed with the replacement at 33kV also avoided up to 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions from the back-up stations during the timescale projected for larger cable option.