SSEN Distribution, as part of SSE plc, has announced the five contract partners it will work with to deliver future investment of up to £950m in its subsea electricity network.

This programme will renew and upgrade the subsea electricity links connecting island communities across Scotland, further improving resilience and increasing capacity to meet growing demand.

Running for an initial five-year period, with the option of an extension for a further three years, SSE estimate the framework investment will help support more than 450 specialised jobs for every year the agreements are in place, meaning more than 3,500 fixed-term roles could be sustained by the overall programme.

These will be across framework partners as well as within SSE’s own subsea team. Positions will be in and around installation sites and at company bases.

Five contract partners will deliver investment on SSE’s behalf, with a strong focus on a more locally based supply chain. They are Burntisland-based Briggs Marine; DOF Subsea UK and N-Sea, both of which have bases in Aberdeen; and Enshore Subsea and Jan De Nul. Specific projects will be allocated according to each contract partner’s specialisms and resources.

The network linking Scotland’s islands takes electricity on the final part of its journey to homes and businesses. Ensuring these critical links are upgraded and renewed will allow customers to connect new technologies like EV chargers, solar panels and heat pumps to the network.

These connections will also benefit local energy generators seeking to produce and export clean power. And they will support increased demand and decarbonisation — with its associated economic growth — by important island-based industries like distilleries.

The participation of several framework partners will deliver additional benefits. These partners — and the resources like the specialised vessels they will have at their disposal — will give more scope to install multiple subsea cables at the same time during the relatively-narrow summer window when weather conditions are more favourable. And there will be a larger pool of contract partners to deploy if an unexpected network fault requires urgent inspection and repair.

In the longer term, upgrades to subsea connections will deliver more resilient and secure electricity connections for island communities, reducing the likelihood of needing to run locally based backup power stations based on islands themselves. 

SSE’s long-term approach also aligns with the direction from the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), Ofgem and the UK and Scottish governments on strategically planned, proactive investment. The recently-published Sector Growth Plan predicts the jobs involved in reinforcing electricity networks could contribute between £4 bn and £11 bn in Gross Value Added (GVA) by the middle of the century.

Kevin Galbraith, SSEN Distribution’s subsea project director (large capital delivery) said: “Subsea connections are becoming ever-more important as Scotland’s island communities seek to invest in EV charging, heat pumps, and the decarbonisation of their industries. In addition to providing the networks fit for supporting this growth in the use of clean power, these framework agreements will also underpin the ambitions of islanders to generate, store, and export more renewable energy.

“The agreements themselves will ensure delivery of this investment will be rolled out in a seamless, co-ordinated way, and this will provide both customers and supply chains with the certainty they’re looking for. This multi-year investment will also provide greater job security and new opportunities for employment in this growing sector.”