Scottish Hydro Electric (SHE) Transmission has installed four cable ducts beneath the cliffs near Wick in Scotland as part of the £1.1bn Caithness-Moray subsea link project.
The company, SSE’s transmission unit, said it drilled the ducts around 20 metres beneath the base of the cliffs and almost 500 metres out to sea.
The transition between land and sea is one of the most challenging elements in the installation of the 100-mile link that will enable the efficient transfer of up to 1.2GW of renewable power beneath the Moray Firth, SSE said.
Cables will be pulled through the ducts on to land next year when the marine installation work is due to take place, the utility said.
Two of the four ducts will carry the main electricity cables, a third duct will contain the fibre optic cable to operate the system and the fourth is a spare.
“The main onshore cable works are now nearing completion in Caithness and the ducts at Noss Head will enable the first stage of the cable’s journey beneath the Moray Firth,” SHE Transmission lead project manager for onshore cable works Michael Blake said.
Image: SSE
