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VISTA (Visual Impact of Scottish Transmission Assets)

What is VISTA?

The electricity and gas markets regulator, Ofgem, is responsible for administering a £500m fund for GB electricity transmission owners to mitigate the impact of existing electricity infrastructure on the visual amenity of nationally designated landscapes. This is part of the RIIO-T1 Price Controls that incentives and regulates how transmission owners operate, covering the eight year period from April 2013 to March 2021.

The primary objective of VISTA is to use the Ofgem funding to deliver the maximum benefit for nationally designated landscapes in the north of Scotland transmission network. This will be achieved by delivering projects that offer significant reductions in visual impact, while avoiding unwanted economic and environmental impacts.

Enhancing designated landscapes

VISTA represents an opportunity to reassess the historic electricity infrastructure within, and in some instances in close proximity to, National Parks and National Scenic Areas (NSAs), and to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of these important Scottish landscapes.

By promoting this project we hope to ensure that the proposals taken forward not only represent SSEN and our stakeholders vision as to where the natural beauty of the landscape can be enhanced, but also give those that live, visit and work in and around the designated landscapes a voice in contributing to the assessment and selection of candidate projects that may be taken forward.

Working with stakeholders

Right from the beginning of the VISTA project, stakeholder involvement in helping to shape the development of proposals was viewed as a vital part of the process. To allow maximum benefit to be realised, the views of stakeholders and consumers needs to be at the heart of the decision making process.

To ensure that our decisions were reflective of stakeholders’ views, we sought to involve as many relevant parties as possible. Through engagement with stakeholders and other relevant interest groups, we aimed to provide an opportunity for these stakeholders to contribute to the identification and selection of VISTA proposals.

 

Current proposals

Informed by the stakeholder engagement and consultation conducted to date, a number of proposals have been considered by our engineering and environment teams.

Detailed technical analysis of the proposed schemes has concluded and the following proposals have been identified as offering the best opportunity for delivering visual impact enhancement, while meeting with the other core principles of VISTA, namely to limit negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts and offer best value for money.

These schemes have also been deemed technically suitable from a networks operation perspective, ensuring that network reliability and security of supply will not be constrained if the schemes are successful in obtaining regulatory funding from Ofgem.

Current proposals

Glen Falloch
Remove overhead line infrastructure from the Glen Falloch area, by installing underground cables in place of the current 132kV overhead line. The project will initially examine a study area between Inverarnan substation and Crianlarich. The project will require the identification of a cable route, and sites for sealing-ends where the line will pass from overhead to underground.
Boat of Garten
Remove overhead line infrastructure north of Boat of Garten by installing underground cables in place of the current 132kV overhead line. The exact length of underground cable will be approximately 4km between Docharn and the substation east of Boat of Garten. The project will require the identification of a cable route and sites for sealing-ends where the line will pass from overhead to underground, in the vicinity of Docharn.
Nethy Bridge
Remove overhead line infrastructure to the north of Nethybridge by installing underground cables in place of the current 132kV overhead line. The exact length of underground cable is likely to extend approximately 7km between the substation east of Boat of Garten to the edge of the forestry near Castle Roy, north-east of Nethybridge. The project will require the identification of a cable route and sites for sealing-ends to the east where the line will pass from overhead to underground.
Sloy
Reduce the quantity of overhead line infrastructure within Glen Sloy and the Inveruglas area by installing underground cables in place of some of the current 132kV overhead lines. The project will initially examine a study area between Loch Sloy Dam and Inveruglas Power Station focusing on the parallel overhead lines running broadly east-west between them. The project will require the identification of cable routes, and sites for sealing-ends where the line will pass from overhead to underground.
Landscaping
This could include options of tree screening and pathway enhancement, to more novel techniques such tower painting, insulator replacement, or native woodland planting. Once there is more detail on the types of landscaping mitigation that may be deliverable in these areas, we will reengage with stakeholders, and landowners, to define the options in more detail, following which we hope to submit as formal applications to the fund.

Policy documents

VISTA annual review document 2016/17
Download
File Type: pdf
Published: 14 Jun 2017
VISTA policy document
Download
File Type: pdf
Published: 15 Sep 2016
VISTA policy annex
Download
File Type: pdf
Published: 15 Sep 2016
VISTA project map
A map of our infrastructure in the areas mentioned above.
Download
File Type: pdf
Published: 15 Sep 2016