A COMPANY involved in plans for a controversial network of pylons running the length of Scotland is to propose an alternative scheme involving a 200-mile underwater cable.

Amec has said that an overland cable scheme — opposed by campaigners because it threatens to destroy some of Scotland’s most precious countryside and create a public health risk — should be abandoned.

Instead it is proposing that a giant subsea cable, running from Stornoway, in the Western Isles, to Hunterston, in Ayrshire, should be built.

Under current plans, electricity produced by a proposed £411m wind farm on the Isle of Lewis, being built by Amec, would be carried by an overground cable, supported by 600 pylons, from Beauly, in Inverness-shire, to Denny, in Stirlingshire.

Amec fears that its wind farm development could be delayed by up to a decade because the pylon scheme is expected to be the subject of a long-ruunning public inquiry.

Ministers are said to be sympathetic to the alternative idea of an underwater cable which is unlikely to face the same level of public opposition.

It could also mean a rapid economic boost for the Western Isles, creating 200 construction jobs and paving the way for a multi-million-pound community trust fund being set up by Amec and British Energy, its partner in the venture. “We believe the full range of options needs to be reviewed under the guidance of the Scottish executive, including the possible sub-sea link direct to southwest Scotland,” said David Hodkinson, Amec’s managing director of wind energy.

“The selected route should be the one that strikes the best overall balance between social and environmental acceptability, cost and implementation time scales,”

Hodkinson said the developers hoped to secure planning permission from the Scottish executive for the Lewis wind farm by the middle of next year.

“It would be a travesty to have to delay implementation while we wait for the ‘cheapest’ connection option to battle its way through the planning process,” he added.

The cost of running a cable from Stornoway to Hunterston is estimated at between £400m and £700m. The alternative scheme, which would involve running an underwater cable to Ullapool and then erecting pylons between Garve and Beauly, would cost about £530m. Another option is to take the cable to Melvich in the north of Scotland and use pylons to transport electricity on to Shin and Beauly.

Both pylon options have been put forward by Scottish and Southern Energy, which is also considering a more expensive option of putting cables underground.

Jamie McGrigor, Tory MSP for the Highlands, said that he was broadly supportive of the sub-sea cable option. “Why not keep it underwater and bring it in at a more intelligent point like Hunterston, where there is a good connection without having to build these monster pylons?” he said.

McGrigor said he shared the concerns of the campaigners who fear that the giant pylons could pose a health risk and damage the tourist industry.

Regardless of which option the executive decides to back, plans to build a further 600 pylons from Beauly to Denny in Stirlingshire could still go ahead to service other renewable energy schemes across the Highlands. The pylons would pass through the Cairngorms National Park and historically important landscapes.

While Logan said that the underwater cable plan was “fantastic”, he was opposed to any pylons being used.

“This a a step in the right direction,” he said. “We have to look at new technology, including going underwater, to protect the countryside.

“If they decide against running pylons down to Beauly they should do the same for Beauly to Denny. Other countries don’t need pylons so why do we need them?

Logan said that power companies and politicians had a duty to safeguard the environment and communities living on the proposed pylon route.

A source close to the Scottish executive said: “The sub-sea option sounds tremendous because it removes the pylon issue in the north west at a stroke.”

A spokesman for Scottish and Southern Energy said the use of pylons was “not inevitable”. However, he added that laying a sub-sea cable over a long distance was expensive.

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