Balfour Beatty wins wind farm connection contracts in Scotland

Balfour Beatty has secured £35m contracts from Scottish Hydro Electric (SHE) Transmission in order to design and build the Bhlaraidh and Beinneun Wind Farm Connections Project near Fort Augustus, Scotland.

The firm will provide the electrical transmission network connections to both the wind farms.

It will design and build a new substation, revamp the two current substations, set up connection to a fourth substation constructed by a developer.

Balfour Beatty will design and install a new 7.5km 132kV underground cable system, as well as renovate the 21km of 132kV overhead line.

Construction on the two farms is scheduled to commence in April 2016, and delivery is expected to be done by spring of 2017.

These two wind farms will provide electricity to over 90,000 homes. Both the power facilities will supply renewable energy generated directly into the national grid network.

Balfour Beatty project manager Stephen Donnelly said: "With a greater demand to connect renewable energy to the Grid, Balfour Beatty is ideally placed to build both the generation connections into the network and the transmission infrastructure.

"We are focused on providing solutions to help ensure the future security of renewable energy supply across the UK, reducing carbon emissions and contributing to ‘keeping the lights on’.

"Utilizing our unique ability within the industry of a single-source solution from design to build, we’re able to deliver maximum efficiency, a smooth running project and minimal disruption to the public".