Ploughing ahead at Burn of Whilk wind farm as work nears completion
Work is nearing completion on cabling works, at a site in West Watten, that will connect the Burn of Whilk wind farm to the electricity network.
In October last year, McGowan Environmental Engineering based at Dalfaber Industrial Estate in Aviemore secured work worth £7.2m from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution to deliver 81-kilometres of 33kV cabling for turbines at Burn of Whilk in Caithness and Moy near Inverness – its biggest contract to date to help service two wind farms in the region.
The cabling provides a grid connection from the wind farms and involve the installation of new single-circuit and triple-circuit underground cabling as well as fibre-optic cable – including cross-bonding and intermediate earthing – across rural land.
The installation of the high-voltage underground cabling at Burn of Whilk will not only provide a more efficient service but also "minimises environmental impact across sensitive landscapes".
A spokesperson for Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said: "Since October last year our teams, in conjunction with McGowan Environmental Engineering, have been working to install a replacement cable connecting Burn of Whilk wind farm to the local electricity network.
"A specialist plough has been used to install the underground electricity cable, which is a more environmentally and less disruptive way of working. The plough makes a narrow cut, lays the cable and then back-fills in one continuous operation, which causes less disruption to the ground’s make-up than the traditional open-trenching method.
"RockShield RS1000 cable wrap technology has been used on this project. This wrap technology is designed so that the cables can be laid without the need for a traditional bed of sand, which is also more environmentally friendly as there is no requirement to transport the sand to site."
The company went on to state that intends to have the project completed by the end of February.
Burn of Whilk Wind Farm, located south of Wick is owned and operated by Eneco UK. The nine turbine wind farm has a generating capacity of 22.5MW.
The wind farm became fully operational in September 2015. It has the potential to generate the equivalent energy needs of 12,500 households annually.
