Summary
Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) plans to spend £33 billion over five years to upgrade Scotland's electricity grid. This involves increasing grid capacity and erecting tall pylons and large sub-stations. The investment will also focus on improving home capacity for green technologies like air heat converters and electric car chargers.
Key Facts
- SSE will invest £33 billion over the next five years to improve Scotland's electricity grid.
- Two-thirds of the investment will upgrade wiring and increase high-voltage grid capacity.
- The plan includes erecting tall pylons and large sub-stations in the Highlands and rural Aberdeenshire, causing local criticism.
- £5 billion will be spent on lower-voltage wiring improvements in parts of Scotland and central southern England.
- SSE is a major developer of offshore wind farms, including the Dogger Bank and Berwick Bank projects.
- Funding the plan started with issuing £2 billion in new SSE shares.
- SSE plans to expand staff in its networks transmission division by five times, reaching 2,500 employees.
- SSE directly employs 7,000 people in Scotland and impacts a total of nearly 49,000 jobs in the UK.
