Our approach to optioneering (routes for overhead lines or sites for substations) is underpinned by our statutory obligations, as set out in the Electricity Act Schedule 9, to ‘develop and maintain an efficient, coordinated and economical electricity transmission system’. Having regard to the “desirability of preserving the natural beauty, of conserving flora, fauna and geological and physiographical features of special interest and protecting sites, buildings and objects of architectural, historic or archaeological interest; and do what we reasonably can to mitigate any effect which the proposals would have on the natural beauty of the countryside or on any such flora, fauna, features, sites buildings or objects’.
As a result, our optioneering process seeks to balance technical and cost considerations with environmental considerations. To select a proposed option which is economically viable, technically feasible, minimises impacts on important resources or features of the environment and reduces disturbance to those living in it, working in it, visiting it or using it for recreational purposes. The option must also be capable of being granted consent by either the Scottish Government (in the case of overhead line projects) or local planning authorities (in the case of substation projects).
To do this we consider specific topic areas within the environmental, technical and cost categories and assess each in terms of the potential for the option to be constrained. We allocate a Red/Amber/Green (RAG) rating to each topic to highlight where potential issues may be present and use this to help compare the different options. The appraisal seeks to compare the wider implications of each option on those topics (both individually and combined) and reach a reasoned conclusion, on balance across all topics, as to the ‘preferred option’ to take forward.
Any weighting of certain criteria as being of more importance than other criteria would depend on project specific considerations. For example, if a particular technical or environmental constraint has been identified as a priority consideration through stakeholder engagement (or engineering specification) and is unable to be overcome, this will inevitably carry greater weight in the comparison of options which may otherwise contain constraint that can be easily designed out or mitigated.
We follow this comparative approach through stages of refinement. For overhead lines this starts with wider corridors and progress to assessment of routes and alignments. For substations, we start with a long list of sites, which is refined through further assessment to identify one site. Consultation with stakeholders is essential throughout this process so that their views can be taken account of in our considerations prior to progressing to the next stage.
The culmination of this process identifies a ‘proposed option’ that will be taken forward to detailed design, environmental assessment and consent applications.