Blackhillock Substation

Blackhillock Substation is an electrical substation located in the north east of Scotland, near the town of Keith in Moray.

Outside substation prior to upgrade

It is owned and operated by Scottish Southern Electricity Network (SSEN). Covering an area the size of 24 football pitches, it is as of January 2019, the UK's largest substation and Europe's second biggest.[1]

Construction began in early 2015 to upgrade the existing substation so it could accommodate the new Caithness - Moray Link.[2] The £1bn construction project had four main elements: 400kV and 232kV gas-insulated substations, one 275kV air-insulated substation, a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) converter for the Caithness - Moray subsea link and a HVDC underground cable from the substation to Portgordon.[3] In January 2019 construction and commissioning were completed making it the UK's largest operating substation. It is seen as integral to the UK electricity grid as the north of Scotland generates much renewable energy via windfarms. The upgrade was primarily done to accommodate the Beatrice Windfarm.[1]

See also

References
  1. Keane, Kevin (2019-01-11). "Major subsea electricity link completed". BBC News. Retrieved 2019-01-11.
  2. "Work completed on £1bn subsea electricity cable". www.expressandstar.com. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
  3. "Blackhillock substation". Blackhillock substation. Retrieved 2019-01-12.


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