Grid connection cable, Hoy

Orkney relies on two subsea cables connected to mainland Scotland to supply the county with electricity on the odd days we’re not generating our own. The cables stretch from Murkle Bay near Thurso, across The Pentland Firth to Rackwick on Hoy and onwards to Orphir on the Orkney Mainland. The cables are sometimes visible on the shore at Rackwick at low tide.

The first 33kV cable was installed in 1982, followed by a second in 1998 which meant that the diesel Power Station in Kirkwall could be kept as a backup generator in case of cable failure.

More recently, Scottish and Southern Energy Network recently replaced one of the subsea cables, which was completed in 2020.

Although originally installed to bring electricity to Orkney the cables are also the means by which renewable energy generated in Orkney is transported back to the rest of the UK. Without these cables, the renewables revolution that has taken place in Orkney would not have been possible.

A new cable is also to be laid from Orkney to Caithness as part of the new ‘Orkney Project’ by SSE Transmission. This cable, which follows a different route, will come ashore at Warebeth Beach outside Stromness and be laid in ducts drilled from the shore and under the beach to avoid leaving the cable exposed as the original cables were here at Rackwick.