How we support Sustainability and the Environment

  • Two people overlooking a landscape of trees and hills

    Visual Impact of Scottish Transmission Assets (VISTA)

    We will be utilising part of a £500m fund established by the energy regulator Ofgem to complete any work we undertake. This can include screen planting around substations, undergrounding some overhead lines, and additional landscape enhancements linked to visual impact, such as improving path networks.

    VISTA
  • Engineers with powerlines in the background

    Our Low Carbon Transition Plan

    To help people understand the systematic approach we’re taking to adapt, reinforce and change electricity transmission in our network area in a reliable and sustainable way, we publish an annual review on sustainability.

    Our Low Carbon Transition Plan
  • A bee on a flower

    Biodiversity

    This consultation document seeks comments on our proposed methods to incorporate biodiversity considerations into our project optioneering, design, consenting and ongoing maintenance. In particular we set out our intended methodology for calculating Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), measuring our performance against targets and how we propose to transparently communicate this with our stakeholders.

    Biodiversity Net Gain Paper
  • Birds sitting on an overhead powerline against a blue sky

    Sustainability Strategy

    The consultation report, Delivering a smart, sustainable energy future, provides a first view of our sustainability strategy and these ambitions. Ahead of finalising our Strategy, we are seeking all views and comments to inform our thoughts and direction.

    Sustainability Strategy
  • The word ”care”

    CARE

    CARE is about considering the natural environment in every aspect of our working lives, from looking into the feasibility of a new network project to ensuring we recycle the waste from our site offices. It gives this responsibility to all network employees, clearly setting expectations for Managers, Supervisors and all staff.

    CARE

Providing the supporting infrastructure for a low carbon economy

We are proud to help renewables connect to our network

Many renewable generation developers seek to locate their projects in our area due to the natural resources available to them. While we do not discriminate against any generator that is able to meet the technical and commercial standards to connect to the transmission system, we are most proud to help the ever-growing number of green third parties that are applying to connect to our network. 

Sustainability was also included as one of our 2016 goals, where we have set ourselves the target of becoming the leading global utility in the field of sustainability and environmental impact.

Landscape of wind turbines with a rainbow in the background

Providing the supporting infrastructure for a low carbon economy


Renewable energy is a fundamental part of the move towards a low carbon economy both in Great Britain and in Scotland however much of our transmission network was not designed for the substantial volume generated from renewable energy. As such, we are undertaking fundamentally required investment during the RIIO-T1 period (2013 - 2021) to reinforce our network to facilitate connections to it. Over the coming decade, we expect to significantly expand our network to facilitate the growth of renewable generation in the north of Scotland in order to meet national renewable energy targets.

  • Preserving the past

     

If you have any comments on our environmental performance, please feel free to send in your comments to the following address

stakeholder.engagement@sse.com

Developing and building our projects in the right way

We do not believe it is possible to deliver our plans without taking a long-term, sustainable view of our projects, both individually and combined, considering the impact on the environment, society and the wider economy.

  • Osprey nest build at Alyth

    Osprey nest build at Alyth As part of the East Coast 400kV Reinforcement project, we have built and erected an Osprey tower to allow nearby nesting Ospreys to relocate from the top of a 275kV tower.

Protecting our natural heritage

Lead Environmental Project Manager Richard Baldwin explains why it’s so vital that we work to preserve the landscape for future generations; protecting the ecology, the environment and the people who live and work in our project areas.

  • Protecting our Natural Heritage

     

Protecting, restoring and enhancing biodiversity


Managing the environmental impacts of our assets is a key aspect of our transmission network in this time of significant change, elevated public opinion and increased legislative requirement. Full environmental impact assessments or appraisals are conducted as part of planning applications and our environmental team works hard to develop optimal solutions that consider the environment and our stakeholders.

Once our projects are completed our operations team, who are responsible for the operation and maintenance of the asset during its life, receive an environmental handover pack with details all of the known constraints so that should any maintenance be required it can be undertaken with due regard to the environment.

Preserving our visual amenities


We recognise that our activities will almost inevitably have an environmental impact. In the case of renewable generation, the less favourable visual impact is often outweighed by the overall environmental benefit of the resulting lower carbon generation. At the planning stage we make every effort to understand how the natural environment can be used to screen and lessen visual impact, and where possible, we use natural contours, gullies and ridges.

Minimising our carbon footprint


We recognise that as well as assisting others to achieve their low carbon objectives, there are also measures that we can implement ourselves to minimise our carbon footprint and the possible impacts of greenhouse gases on society.

As a growing business we are working to develop an appropriate solution to allow us to accurately report our carbon footprint in an open and transparent way that allows stakeholders to understand our year-on-year performance against a background of business growth.

We have targeted a 2% reduction year-on-year across our building energy usage and transport functions.