Herald Scotland

Interesting to hear some Labour politicians making a case against bulldozed tracks on the Scottish hills, the same politicians who have backed the Beauly Denny power line and say we need more windfarms. Last time I looked the wind turbines themselves were serviced from bulldozed tracks, miles and miles of the bloody things. Sounds like the old labour class war as against the huntin' fishin' landowners creeping up the agenda again.

I'm guessing, as I don't know the details, that the reason the Beauly-Denny power line is going to be above ground is down to costs (leaving aside the bigger debate on the need for it all). It's a criminal shame that our country continues to erect these monstrosities when we have the means and the ability to do away with them. As I say I'm no expert on this matter at all but I do remember winter after winter hearing of communities across Scotland having their power cut off for days on end as the result of snow falls and high winds - not such a problem when the lines are underground.
IO know the geologu makes that expensive but surely that cost is worth it - and where laying the lines underground iIS practical - it should be mandatory - that would at least reduce the impact - better than nothing.

As far I am aware the majority of power outages are down to failures in the smaller line connections not in the larger pylons. Although I agree that pylons are at their best unsightly, has anyone actually looked in any detail at the amount of environmental impact /damage that would be caused by routing the cables underground. Especially if we consider that it would only be fair to underground the whole route, and not just the bit that passes through the National Park. It could be compared to constructing a two lane road, thats a lot of disruption, also we can assume that access to the cables would be required at all points along the route. Although apparently high voltage cables give off a significant amount of heat, perhaps we could dual the A9 and at the same time bury the cables under it - smart thinking - no ugly pylons and a snow / ice free route to the North. Imagine how much we could save on salt!

The damage caused by laying cables underground is, of course, transitory, and there are numerous pylons, of course, all across the UK that do not have any provision made for access beneath them as such - that is to say that underneath them is farmland, moorland, hillsides and so on.
Like the idea of under-road heating though. Question is would they really bury them far enough down - or do what is too often done with electrical cables and pipes in gardens - pretend that 8" is 18" after all. That'd be fun for the road-repair crews with their diggers! Light their day up !

I find it interesting that Scottish and Southern Energy, who will be building the Beauly-Denny line, say they can't, or won't underground cables, yet on Skye they're undergrounding cables near the Sligachan Inn so that tourists have an uninterupted view of the Cuillin. They recently chopped down the electricity poles there. Was this a bit of spin on their behalf? They are apparently doing the same thing near the Kingshouse below the Buachaille.

It certainly seems odd, that. Again I suspect that larger profit margins may lie behind the decision - obviously the costs and lengths of cable involved are smaller on Skye and above Glencoe than for the whole line from Beuly to Denny - but what of the incalculable cost to the environment or indeed the calculable cost to tourism - but then that's not coming out of the power company's pockets. - Now I'm certainly in favour of making a profit - (I'm self-employed and making big proofits is a recurring and pleasant dream) - but not at any cost.

It's good to hear politicians standing against bulldozed tracks but why not against equally ugly power lines ? I wonder how the pennies stack up in the two cases !!! (I don't really - as I suspect I know the answer)

"Scottish and Southern Energy, who will be building the Beauly-Denny line, say they can't, or won't underground cables, yet on Skye they're undergrounding cables near the Sligachan Inn so that tourists have an uninterupted view of the Cuillin." .... Cameron

The Beauly-Denny line is 400,000 volts whereas the cables at Sligachan are probably 415v. Air's a good insulator, wet soil isn't, and the higher the voltage the better the insulator needed.

John

Thanks JH for the technical input - where would we be without you :)

Possibly standing in beautiful unspoilt scenery with a strangley frizzy hair-do and a warm tingling feeling in places we wouldn't want one.!!!!

Exactly JH, (Voltage / insulation) in addition to this the high voltage cables create a considerable amount of heat (apparently) and this would have to be dissipated somehow,and therfore incur more need for access to the line of transmission(maintenance), therefore a need for more access tracks. Could it be then that undergrounding these large cables is actually more environmentaly damaging, (ie a very long section of bulldozed pipelaying corridor) as opposed to the pylons which after all only offend the eye? Just a thought.