Thirty five electricity towers are being removed from the skyline of the Sma’ Glen, north of Crieff by the transmission operator Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission.
The £10M Amulree Rationalisation project is being carried out as part of the Scottish Government conditions, associated with the Beauly Denny project, which will see the permanent replacement of 8km of overhead power lines with underground cables.
The project is now underway and is planned to be completed by December 2014. The steel towers that the cable replaces will be dismantled and removed during 2015. Presently there are two electricity transmission lines routed through the Sma’ Glen, when the Amulree and Beauly Denny projects are completed there will be only one overhead line visible between Amulree and Millrodgie.
Councillor Alan Grant, Convenor of Perth and Kinross Council’s Environment Committee, said: “This project is a huge undertaking which I hope will bring a number of benefits to the local area and residents, one of which will be improving the scenic beauty of the area.”
Mel Chisholm, Scottish Hydro Electric (SHE) Transmission project manager, explains further:
“The Amulree undergrounding project is being carried out as part of the Errochty Rationalisation Scheme as part of the Beauly - Denny transmission line project, and will see the removal of some 8km of steel tower line.
“The installation of the replacement cable section is a technically challenging project that has taken several years to plan. Although our teams will be working on undulating terrain and under some difficult conditions, we are confident that our plans and timescales are achievable.”
Members of the public can contact the project team with any questions at beauly-denny@sse.com