28th July 2026
Caithness at the Centre of Scotland’s Electricity Revolution: The Transformation Happening Around Us
Look across Caithness today and it is easy to see individual electricity projects – a new substation here, a cable route there, construction work around Dounreay or Spittal. But put them together and a much bigger picture emerges.
Caithness is being transformed from a relatively remote part of Scotland's electricity network into a major energy transmission hub, linking renewable electricity from Orkney, Shetland and the far north with the rest of Scotland and the wider UK.
And this isn't something that is going to happen in the distant future.
Much of the infrastructure is already operating. Other major projects are under construction now, while some of the biggest schemes are progressing through planning.
The scale is extraordinary.
SSEN Transmission says it is planning around £29 billion of investment in new and upgraded electricity transmission infrastructure across the north of Scotland over the next five years. It estimates that the programme could support up to 10,000 jobs in the north of Scotland and 24,000 across Scotland.
For Caithness, this isn't simply a story about pylons and electricity cables.
It could become one of the most important economic and industrial changes the area has experienced for decades.
It started with Caithness-Moray
One of the most important pieces of the transformation is already easy to overlook because it has been operating for several years.
The Caithness-Moray transmission link was completed and energised in 2019, following four years of construction.
It involved around £970 million of investment, a 113km subsea HVDC cable beneath the Moray Firth, new converter stations at Spittal and Blackhillock, work at eight substations and reinforcement of the overhead network.
The project was described by SSEN at the time as the most significant investment in the north of Scotland electricity transmission system since the 1950s.
But its importance goes beyond the cable running from Caithness to Moray.
It established Spittal as a major electricity transmission location.
And that was only the beginning.
The Dounreay-Mybster network was rebuilt
The Caithness-Moray project also required substantial reinforcement of the local transmission system.
The existing electricity infrastructure between Dounreay, Thurso South, Spittal and Mybster was strengthened, including replacement of older overhead lines and construction of new infrastructure.
The result was a much stronger electricity network across Caithness capable of handling substantially greater flows of electricity.
The importance of that work is becoming much clearer now because the new projects are effectively building upon the network that was created during that earlier investment.
In other words, the infrastructure built around Caithness in the 2010s is now becoming the foundation for the much larger energy system being built in the 2020s and beyond.
Then Shetland arrived at Noss Head
The next major transformation came from the Shetland HVDC Link.
This project connected Shetland to the GB electricity transmission system for the first time.
The cable runs approximately 260km between Shetland and Noss Head near Wick, with a new HVDC switching station at Noss Head.
The project cost around £660 million and was energised in August 2024.
It is capable of supporting up to 600MW of renewable generation.
That includes the 443MW Viking Wind Farm on Shetland.
But there is an especially interesting feature for Caithness.
Noss Head is not simply the end of the Shetland cable.
The switching station allows electricity flows to be managed between the Shetland connection and the existing Caithness-Moray system, linking the Shetland cable with the transmission network through Spittal in Caithness and Blackhillock in Moray.
SSEN describes it as a pioneering multi-terminal HVDC system – the first of its kind in Europe.
So Caithness has already become a junction point for electricity arriving from the islands and travelling south into the wider Scottish grid.
And now another island connection is being built.
The Orkney Link is coming to Dounreay
The latest development is the Orkney-Caithness 220kV link.
This will connect Orkney to the mainland transmission network for the first time.
The project includes:
a new substation at Finstown;
around 14km of underground cable on Orkney;
approximately 53km of subsea cable;
a landfall at Dounreay;
a new Dounreay West substation;
connection into the existing Dounreay transmission infrastructure.
The link is designed to enable up to 220MW of additional renewable electricity to connect to the national grid.
And construction is already well underway.
In July 2026 SSEN announced completion of one of the project's technically difficult stages at Dounreay – 830 metres of horizontal directional drilling beneath the seabed.
That creates the duct through which the future subsea cable will eventually be brought ashore.
So Dounreay is becoming another major gateway for renewable electricity arriving from the islands.
The biggest project yet: Spittal to Peterhead[/B}
But perhaps the most dramatic change for Caithness is only now beginning.
Construction started in 2026 on the Spittal to Peterhead subsea cable link.
This is on a completely different scale from the Orkney connection.
The project involves a 2GW high-voltage direct-current link, with approximately 166km of subsea cable running from Sinclair's Bay in Caithness across the Moray Firth to Rattray Head near Peterhead.
The total route is approximately 203km when the onshore sections are included.
To put 2GW into perspective, this single connection is designed to carry almost ten times the capacity of the Orkney-Caithness link.
The Caithness end will connect into a major new development at Spittal.
And this is where the transformation becomes particularly visible.
[B}Banniskirk Hub: a new electricity complex near Spittal[/B}
Planning consent was granted in November 2025 for the Banniskirk Hub.
It will contain:
a new 400kV substation;
a high-voltage direct-current converter station;
connections to the existing Spittal 275kV infrastructure;
connections to the proposed new 400kV overhead line towards Beauly;
infrastructure associated with the Spittal-Peterhead subsea link.
This is not simply a replacement substation.
It is effectively a new energy interchange.
Renewable electricity generated in the north can enter the network at Spittal, travel south through the new 400kV network, or be transported through the new HVDC connection towards Peterhead and onwards to areas of demand.
That makes the Spittal area increasingly strategic to the whole Scottish electricity system.
[B}And then comes the 400kV line to Beauly[/B}
The proposed Spittal–Loch Buidhe–Beauly 400kV connection is another enormous piece of the jigsaw.
The proposed overhead line is approximately 173km long, with additional diversion works taking the overall proposed overhead infrastructure to around 191km.
It would connect new substations at:
Banniskirk near Spittal;
Carnaig near Loch Buidhe;
Fanellan near Beauly.
The project is currently going through the consent process rather than being a completed or fully approved construction project.
The proposed line would therefore provide a much stronger high-voltage route from the far north towards the central Scottish network.
And that matters because the electricity generated in Caithness and further north cannot simply remain here.
The network has to be capable of moving it to where electricity is actually being consumed.
Caithness is becoming a crossroads
When these projects are viewed together, the geography becomes remarkable.
Electricity can increasingly move:
Orkney → Dounreay → wider Scottish network
Shetland → Noss Head → Spittal → Moray and beyond
Caithness renewable generation → Spittal → Peterhead
Spittal → Beauly → central and southern Scotland
And the existing Caithness-Moray link already provides a major route beneath the Moray Firth.
This means Caithness is no longer simply somewhere electricity passes through on its way south.
It is becoming a strategic interchange between several major transmission corridors.
[b]It isn't just Caithness[/b}
It is important not to view these projects in isolation.
The same transformation is happening across the north of Scotland.
SSEN's wider Pathway to 2030 programme includes major developments around:
Beauly;
Loch Buidhe;
Spittal;
Peterhead;
New Deer;
Kintore;
Tealing;
the Western Isles;
Orkney;
Shetland.
The Western Isles project, for example, will eventually connect Lewis to the mainland through a combination of underground and subsea cable, with a proposed mainland connection at Fanellan near Beauly. Early works on the Highland section are already underway.
The scale therefore extends far beyond Caithness.
But Caithness sits at a particularly important point within it.
[b]The £29 billion figure puts the scale into perspective
SSEN Transmission's latest economic report describes around £29 billion of planned investment across the north of Scotland over the next five years.
That is not £29 billion being spent in Caithness.
It is the company's overall north of Scotland transmission investment programme.
But it demonstrates the scale of the transformation of which Caithness is a part.
SSEN estimates that its programme could support:
up to 10,000 jobs in the north of Scotland;
around 24,000 jobs across Scotland;
around £60 billion of additional UK economic output when combined with other transmission and generation investment;
and potentially make the Scottish economy up to 3% larger over the long term.
Those are SSEN's economic modelling estimates rather than guaranteed outcomes, but they give an indication of the scale of what is being planned.
Caithness businesses are already getting involved
The economic impact isn't entirely something for the future.
Local businesses are already becoming part of the supply chain.
For example, John Gunn & Sons, based in Caithness, has secured work on the onshore cable sections associated with the Spittal-Peterhead project.
Engineering and infrastructure company Murphy has opened a new office in Thurso, with plans for up to 50 new skilled roles, adding to its existing Highland workforce.
SSEN has also said that the wider development around Banniskirk underpins plans for a new operational depot in Caithness supporting around 20 permanent roles.
This is important because the greatest economic benefit for Caithness will not necessarily come from the number of workers employed directly by SSEN.
It could come from the secondary economy created around the infrastructure programme.
That includes:
construction;
civil engineering;
haulage;
plant hire;
accommodation;
food and catering;
engineering;
environmental services;
surveying;
land management;
professional services;
maintenance;
telecommunications;
and eventually long-term energy-related businesses.
There is also a community dividend
Major infrastructure inevitably creates disruption.
There will be construction traffic, temporary compounds, trenches, pylons, substations and changes to the landscape.
SSEN is attempting to provide a financial and social return to communities hosting the infrastructure.
The company says its wider Pathway to 2030 projects are expected to generate more than £100 million in community benefit funding, subject to regulatory and government arrangements.
Caithness has already received an example of this through the Shetland HVDC Local Fund.
The fund is worth £677,250, split equally between Shetland and Caithness, with £338,625 going to Caithness communities over four years from 2025 to 2029.
The larger proposed Spittal-Beauly project could bring around £35 million of community benefit funding if consented.
So there is the potential for significant money to flow directly into communities hosting the infrastructure.
But there is a difficult question about Caithness
There is a contradiction at the heart of this transformation.
Caithness and the wider Highlands are being asked to host an enormous amount of infrastructure because the area has some of Britain's best renewable-energy resources.
Yet the electricity is largely being transported elsewhere.
That inevitably raises questions about what the communities hosting the infrastructure gain from it.
There are benefits from construction employment, supply-chain spending, community funds and potentially new businesses.
But there are also costs.
People will see new pylons and substations across the landscape.
Landowners will be affected.
There will be construction disruption.
And the wider question remains about whether the communities producing and transmitting Scotland's renewable energy will see enough long-term benefit from it.
Those are legitimate questions that should be part of the discussion.
The transformation is much bigger than wind turbines
Perhaps the most important point is that Scotland's energy transition is not simply about building wind farms.
The electricity transmission network is the infrastructure underneath the entire energy transition.
A wind farm can generate electricity.
But without enough transmission capacity, that electricity cannot be moved to consumers.
That is why so much investment is now going into:
substations;
pylons;
underground cables;
subsea cables;
HVDC converter stations;
switching stations;
and new high-voltage connections.
The transformation is therefore happening partly above ground and partly beneath it.
Some of the most important pieces of infrastructure will never be visible once construction has finished.
And it isn't stopping in 2030
The £29 billion programme is enormous, but it is not the end of the story.
In June 2026, the National Energy System Operator published its updated Beyond 2030 plans.
For the north of Scotland, SSEN says these include additional new, replacement and upgraded transmission projects required by 2035, representing a potential investment of more than £5 billion.
These projects are intended to accommodate additional offshore wind and other low-carbon generation.
So the construction boom around Caithness and the Highlands could continue well into the next decade.
What Caithness could look like in the 2030s
It is difficult to predict exactly what the economic consequences will be.
But the direction of travel is becoming increasingly clear.
Caithness could have:
multiple major HVDC connections;
a new 400kV transmission network;
major converter and switching stations;
an enlarged role for Dounreay;
Spittal developing into a major transmission hub;
stronger links to Orkney and Shetland;
stronger connections south towards Beauly and Peterhead;
increasing renewable generation;
a larger specialist engineering and construction sector;
and potentially new energy-intensive businesses attracted by the availability of renewable electricity.
The transformation could be every bit as significant for Caithness as the arrival of the nuclear industry at Dounreay was in an earlier generation – although the nature of the economic opportunity will be very different.
From nuclear power to renewable power
There is also something rather striking about the geography.
For decades, Dounreay represented Britain's nuclear future.
Today, the same area is becoming a major connection point for Scotland's renewable-energy future.
Electricity from Orkney will come ashore at Dounreay.
The Shetland link already reaches the mainland at Noss Head.
Spittal is being developed into a major 400kV and HVDC hub.
The Caithness-Moray link is already carrying power beneath the Moray Firth.
And a huge new 2GW link is now being constructed from Sinclair's Bay towards Peterhead.
All of this is happening within a relatively small part of the Highlands.
The bigger picture
It is easy to become accustomed to construction work and regard each project as a separate development.
But the individual projects are actually pieces of one enormous change.
Caithness is moving from being at the end of Scotland's electricity network to becoming one of its major crossroads.
The old electricity system was largely designed to move power from large conventional generating stations towards consumers.
The new system is being designed around a very different geography.
Some of Britain's best renewable resources are in the north and west of Scotland.
The electricity therefore has to be collected, converted, transmitted and distributed across a much larger area.
Caithness is right in the middle of that process.
The question for Caithness
The really interesting question now is not whether this transformation is happening.
It clearly is.
The question is what Caithness makes of it.
Will the area simply become a place where enormous amounts of electricity pass through on their way to England and the Central Belt?
Or can the investment create a lasting economic legacy through skilled jobs, local businesses, housing, training, new industries and cheaper or more secure energy for communities?
That may ultimately be the most important debate surrounding the electricity revolution taking place across the north of Scotland.
Because the cables, pylons and substations are only the infrastructure.
The real opportunity for Caithness is what happens around them.
The numbers are big
£970m — Caithness-Moray, completed 2019.
£660m — Shetland HVDC, completed/energised 2024.
220MW — capacity of the Orkney-Caithness link now under construction.
2GW — capacity of the new Spittal-Peterhead link now under construction.
173km — proposed new 400kV Spittal-Loch Buidhe-Beauly line.
£29bn — SSEN's planned North of Scotland transmission investment over the next five years.
£5bn+ — further potential North of Scotland investment identified for 2035 and beyond.