What's the value of a new transmission link for Orkney?

Orkney Islands Council recently commissioned a report into the potential long-term economic benefits of a new electricity transmission link between Orkney and the Scottish Mainland.

The report took a look at the Gross Value Added (GVA) - the measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry or sector - to the Orkney and Scottish economies over a 40 - 50 year period.

The report makes for interesting reading - with the key findings as follows:

• A new electricity transmission link between Orkney and the Scottish Mainland would provide at least £371 million of economic benefit to the Orkney economy. This would rise to up to £807 million if the wave and tidal energy industry makes use of the cable too.

• For Scotland the figures are a minimum of £606 million of economic benefit, rising to up to £1.48 billion.

• Objective analysis of sites under development found that the three wind farms under ‘Orkney’s Community Wind Farm Project’ are vital in securing a cable for Orkney, as the 86.4MW that could be generated the developments would make an essential contribution towards meeting the Ofgem needs case target of 135MW.

• Council projects could provide close to four times more benefit to the economy compared to privately-owned developments, due to the fact that they would be publicly-owned - and therefore the income would remain in the county.

• The report also highlights the key role and added value that the cable would bring in facilitating further development of the marine renewable sector which, with a favourable structure in the upcoming Contract for Difference (CfD) auction and confirmation of a cable, would provide a genuine route to market for new wave and tidal projects in Orkney.

Those who've been following the progress of 'Orkney's Community Wind Farm Project' will know that the triggering of a new transmission link for Orkney is one of the key rationale for why we've been developing the project - alongside income generation to support local services and meeting Orkney's carbon reduction aspirations.

The findings of the report demonstrate just how important a transmission link is to Orkney’s economic future, not only in bringing much-needed income to the county but also in retaining and securing high-value jobs – giving us great hope as we look to stabilise Orkney’s economy post-Covid.

The report also shows just how important our projects are in securing the cable – without the projects, to be frank, the cable will not happen.

As the new Scottish Government cabinet ministers settle into their new roles, we hope that the report will strengthen their understanding of how critical this piece of infrastructure – and ‘Orkney’s Community Wind Farm Project' - is to our islands – and Scotland as a whole.