Notice is hereby given that Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc, company registration number SC213451, with its Registered Office at Inveralmond House, 200 Dunkeld Road Perth PH1 3AQ, has submitted additional information to the Scottish Ministers in relation to the application for consent under Section 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 to install and keep installed approximately 160km of new overhead line and underground cabling between the existing Ardmore substation located approximately 30km northwest of Portree (OS Grid Reference NG 22226 61110), to the existing Fort Augustus substation located approximately 2.5km west/southwest of Fort Augustus (OS Grid Reference NH 35594 08249).

This includes 110km of new double circuit 132kV overhead line supported by steel lattice towers between Fort Augustus and Broadford, 27km of new single circuit 132kV overhead line supported by trident wood poles (H poles) between Broadford and Ardmore substation, and approximately 24km of double circuit 132kV underground cable.

Given the length of the route for the new 132 kV transmission connection and to describe more easily the baseline environmental factors, the route has been split into seven defined geographical ‘Sections’. The Sections are: Section 0 – Ardmore to Edinbane; Section 1 – Edinbane to North of Sligachan; Section 2 – North of Sligachan to Broadford; Section 3 – Broadford to Kyle Rhea; Section 4 – Kyle Rhea to Loch Cuaich; Section 5 – Loch Cuaich to Invergarry; and Section 6 – Invergarry to Fort Augustus. An EIA Report has been produced to accompany the application for consent.

The Company has also asked that Scottish Ministers give a direction under Section 57(2) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 that planning permission for the development be deemed to be granted.

Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc has now submitted additional information to Scottish Ministers, which includes a detailed compensation plan relating to the derogation under the Habitats Regulations for Section 3 of the Proposed Development; a project wide compensation strategy; a revised peat landslide hazard risk assessment; an update to Annex E of the Kinloch & Kyleakin Hills SAC Shadow HRA and a briefing note on bird flight diverter mitigation required within Section 5 of the Proposed Development.

A copy of the application, including plans showing the lands to which it relates and the EIA Report, together with the additional information, is available for public inspection, free of charge on the application website Skye Reinforcement - Section 37 Application (ssen-transmission.co.uk) or on the Scottish Government Energy Consents website at www.energyconsents.scot under application reference ECU00003395.

The Additional Information is also available for public inspection in person, free of charge at:

Copies of the Additional Information may be obtained from Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc (telephone: 07584313070 / email: joanne.nicolson@sse.com) at a charge of £50.00 per hard copy or by CD/DVD or Pen Drive, free of charge. Copies of a short Non-Technical Summary are available free of charge.

All previous representations received by Scottish Ministers in relation to the above application will still be considered.

Any new representations may be submitted to Scottish Ministers via the Energy Consents Unit website at www.energyconsents.scot/Register.aspx; by email to the Scottish Government, Energy Consents Unit mailbox at representations@gov.scot; or by post to the Scottish Government, Energy Consents Unit, 4th Floor, 5 Atlantic Quay, 150 Broomielaw, Glasgow, G2 8LU, identifying the proposal and specifying the grounds for representation. Please note that there may be a delay in the Energy Consents Unit receiving representations by post.

Written or emailed representations should be dated, clearly stating the name (in block capitals), full return email and postal address of those making representations. Only representations sent by email to representations@gov.scot will receive acknowledgement.

All representations should be received not later than 4th September March 2023 although Ministers may consider representations received after this date.

Any subsequent additional information which is submitted by the developer will be subject to further public notice in this manner, and representations to such information will be accepted as per this notice.

As a result of a statutory objection from the relevant planning authority, or where Scottish Ministers decide to exercise their discretion to do so, Scottish Ministers can also cause a Public Local Inquiry (PLI) to be held.

Following examination of the environmental information, Scottish Ministers will determine the application for consent in one of two ways:

• Consent the proposal, with or without conditions attached; or

• Reject the proposal

General Data Protection Regulations

The Scottish Government Energy Consents Unit processes consent applications and consultation representations under the Electricity Act 1989. During the process, to support transparency in decision making, the Scottish Government publishes online at www.energyconsents.scot. A privacy notice is published on the help page at www.energyconsents.scot. This explains how the Energy Consents Unit processes your personal information. If you have any concerns about how your personal data is handled, please email Econsents_Admin@gov.scot. (please note the underscore _ between Econsents and Admin).