Power Line Stays Above Ground

The Scottish Government have just announced that the proposed new Beauly-Denny power line will not be buried.

If you recall, this is the section of the national grid running the spine of Scotland, from Beauly in the north to Denny in the central belt. The transmission lines will be higher-powered than the existing lines, in order to bring renewable energy from the north of the country to the places where it is needed most.

It's one of those issues which has split the environmental movement. On the one hand, it makes remote renewable generation more attractive. On the other, the electricity pylons will be larger and therefore unsightly.

I've always argued on the side of the line being built. Electricity pylons are one of those things that you fail to notice after a while, that merge into the background. There is also an existing transmission line there, which the new line will merely replace for the most part. And we're talking about a relatively small section of the country having pylons placed on it, to benefit a larger section of not just this country, but the wider world through a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

But lastly, and it's the same thing I think about wind turbines on our hills, if we don't tackle climate change then the Scottish landscape will not look like it does just now anyway.