Guest column by Rona MacKay & Kathleen MacDonald
It was recently announced that Ofgem had rejected plans to upgrade our subsea electricity cable linking us to Skye and the national grid.
I’ve worked for Community Energy Scotland in the Outer Hebrides for 16 years now and during that time the proposed interconnector between Lewis and Ullapool has regularly featured in the news, with barely a mention of the Uist subsea cable. So what has changed and why has it suddenly become important?
My colleague in Lewis, Kathleen MacDonald and I are grateful for the chance to explain the implications of this decision for Uist, as with all its unfamiliar acronyms, for example RIIO-ED2 (setting Revenues using Incentives to deliver Innovation and Outputs), it’s not a topic which is easy to engage in but it’s important we understand it and ensure the Uist community is represented in the final decision.
In December 2021 SSEN (Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks), who run our electricity networks in the North of Scotland, drafted a Business Plan setting out their proposals to replace the existing cable between South Uist (Lochcarnan) and Skye and to add an additional cable between North Uist and Skye. SSEN had engaged with the Comhairle, community generators and others and took account of our needs in their proposal. The plan was very welcome news for Uist and Barra as our current cable was installed 31 years ago and had an estimated lifespan of 20 years. Barra’s electricity supply is dependent on a cable connecting it to Uist so it is also dependent on the South Uist-Skye subsea cable.
In August this year Ofgem, the UK energy regulator who holds the purse strings for the projects in SSEN’s Business Plan, published its Draft Determinations in which it proposes to reject both the upgrade of the cable from South Uist to Skye, and the installation of the second cable from North Uist to Skye. All our larger turbines in Uist and Barra depend on the aging subsea cable from Lochcarnan to Skye to connect them to the national grid and allow them to generate and sell electricity. If the subsea cable to Skye fails, all the larger turbines are turned off until the cable is fixed. Ofgem’s decision is therefore deeply concerning for the Uist and Barra communities, and in particular for our community-owned wind turbines. Community Power Outer Hebrides (CPOH), a collective of the community generators in the Outer Hebrides including Stòras Uibhist and Barra & Vatersay Community Ltd, along with Uist Wind, wrote to Ofgem outlining their concerns about Ofgem’s proposal and the impact it could have on our communities.
In 2020 the Harris to Skye subsea cable that supplies Lewis and Harris failed and was down for a total of ten months. During this time four community generators claimed a combined £2million from their respective insurance companies and over and above that total was a shortfall/outright loss to the community generators of £1.3million. This had a drastic impact on communities with the charitable payments from the turbines out to the wider community being frozen.
Although the cable break to Harris was serious and had far reaching impacts, the Lewis community groups were able to rely on some insurance support to see them through the worst of the cable failure. Since this failure in 2020, no island-based generator has been able to source insurance cover for subsea cable failure, leaving the Uist and Barra generators without any cover should our Uist subsea cable break. The members of Community Power Outer Hebrides estimate that if the Uist cable were to fail now the loss to the projects on Uist and Barra would be in the region of £3million. Ofgem’s decision could cause job losses, project development delays and housing support delays amongst other issues.
Ofgem’s remit is to protect energy consumers, especially vulnerable people, by ensuring they are treated fairly and benefit from a cleaner, greener environment. Ofgem’s decision seems inconsistent with their remit as in the event of a cable failure it could leave Uist and Barra reliant on diesel generation for up to eighteen months while a replacement cable is installed. The cost to SSEN during the Skye-Harris cable break was estimated at £1m in diesel alone and Community Energy Scotland estimates that the use of diesel was releasing carbon dioxide emissions of 240 tonnes per day. Not only does Ofgem’s decision not make sense from an environmental position it is also the least effective solution from an economic perspective with the cost of diesel having increased dramatically, especially in more remote locations such as ours. Community groups in Uist and Barra are currently exploring decarbonisation projects, many of which are centered around Electric Vehicles, Heatpumps and other localised electricity dependent options. In order to progress these types of projects and support Government targets around a Just Transition we need comfort that the grid is resilient – comfort we currently do not have with the existing infrastructure well past its estimated lifespan.
The Third Sector is a significant employer in Uist and our community is heavily dependent on it to provide core services and facilities. With 57% of the Outer Hebrides estimated to be in fuel poverty and the number of householders seeking support and help increasing, we need to help our community groups to be more resilient to deal with the increasing demand for their services. Increasing energy costs for both buildings and transport are having a huge impact on the viability of the Third Sector and local businesses. We need Ofgem to back SSEN’s proposed subsea cable replacement from Skye to South Uist to give us the basic infrastructure we need to invest in sustainable energy projects locally and reduce energy costs locally.
In Uist and Barra we are having to fight to have equivalent access to a basic utility which people take for granted in towns and cities. Energy has been a key component to developing sustainable communities across Scotland, often supporting community land buyouts and other community development. Uist needs to have the basic infrastructure for a reliable electricity connection to be able to develop sustainable energy projects and future-proof our community.
