Dunoon 132kV Substation Replacement

Thank you to everyone who attended our first pre-application consultation event for the Dunoon 132kV Substation Replacement Project, and to those who took the time to provide feedback on our proposals.

Following further consideration of planning requirements, we are now anticipating that the second pre-application consultation event will take place on Tuesday 20 October, from 2pm to 7pm, at Sandbank Village Hall, rather than on Tuesday 25 August at Dunoon Burgh Hall as previously planned. Please note we have changed the venue following stakeholder feedback to better suit local needs.

We are looking forward to welcoming people to the next event and continuing the conversation as the project proposals develop. Further communications will be issued nearer the time to ensure residents in the area are made aware of the event.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the project, please do not hesitate to get in touch at Martha.E.Smart@sse.com

We have today published a new economic report setting out the significant economic benefits associated with our planned £29bn investment in new and upgraded electricity transmission infrastructure across the north of Scotland.

The report, titled ‘Re‑energising the North: Transforming Scotland’, provides an update on our previously outlined economic analysis on plans to invest billions in mission-critical grid infrastructure, providing further insight into the scale of economic opportunity associated with the investment programme.

The report reaffirms our programme as one of the largest private infrastructure investments in Scotland’s history, with around £29bn of planned investment across the north of Scotland in the next five years, and it details the extent of the economic opportunity across the region.

Using advanced economic modelling to analyse the impact of clean power infrastructure investment, the report’s findings conclude that our investment: 

• Will support up to 10,000 jobs in the north of Scotland, and 24,000 across Scotland; 
• When added to investment by other transmission operators and investment in generation will add around £60bn to UK economic output - with the Scottish economy up to 3% larger over the long term; 
• Will deliver long-term improvements in productivity, wages and economic resilience, with employees moving into higher-value roles and key sectors expanding permanently; and 
• Will create unique opportunities for Scottish suppliers, businesses and communities across multiple sectors, including forestry, peatland restoration, aggregates and concrete too. 

The findings highlight the importance of ensuring that the benefits of investment are felt locally, with thousands of skilled jobs, increased supply chain activity, and investment flowing into communities across the north of Scotland.

Read the full News and Views article to find out more.

Thank you to all members of the community and interested parties that took the time to provide feedback on our proposals for the Dunoon 132kV Substation Replacement project.

The feedback period following the public consultation that we held on 17 March has now closed.

The project team will now collate and carefully consider the feedback received before hosting the second Pre-Application Consultation (PAC) event on 25 August 2026 where we will present a summary of the feedback received at and following our first PAC event.

At this second event we will present our developing design proposals again, which will form the basis of a planning application for submission. 

In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding this project, please contact the Community Liaison Manager: Martha.e.smart@sse.com

We would like to thank all local community members and interested parties who took the time to attend our recent consultation event which we held in Dunoon on Tuesday 17 March 2026.  
 
The feedback period remains open until 28 April 2026, and we welcome all interested parties to submit their feedback regarding the proposals presented during consultation event via; 

• Online:  Feedback Form 

• Post: FAO Martha Smart, SSEN Transmission, 1 Waterloo Street, Glasgow, G2 6A 

• Email: martha.e.smart@sse.com   

We are pleased to be hosting a pre-application consultation event for our proposed Dunoon 132kV Substation Replacement project.

During our drop-in event you will be able to view further information about our proposed works, meet the team, ask questions, and share feedback ahead of our second public event.

The event will be held on:

Date: Tuesday 17 March

Time: 2-7pm

Venue: Dunoon Burgh Hall, 195 Argyll Street, Dunoon, PA23 7DD

This venue has disabled access. For any other accessibility requirements please get in touch.

During our drop-in event you will be able to view further information about our proposals, meet the team, and ask questions. We encourage all members of the local community and all interested parties to attend the event.

Any comments made to us as the Applicant are not representations to Argyll and Bute Council as the planning authority. There will be opportunity to make formal representations to the planning authority following the submission of the planning application.

If you are unable to attend the public event all the material that will be on display will be available to be downloaded on the Documents section of this site.

Please let us know if you require information in an adapted format such as paper copy, large print or braille and we will work with you to accommodate your preferences. We are happy to accommodate all reasonable requests for adapted communications.

For further information please contact the Community Liaison Manager: Martha Smart Martha.E.Smart@sse.com.