A total of nine transformers – which are vital to the 385km subsea power cable link to deliver renewable energy generated in Scotland to homes and businesses in England and Wales – have been delivered to Hunterston in Ayrshire from Rotterdam in Holland.
These critical transmission assets will be installed as part of National Grid and Scottish Power Transmission’s £1 billion Western Link project.
Transformers are often very large and extremely heavy components, and notoriously difficult to transport. For the Western Link project, a total of nine transformers were delivered in three separate shipments to the site of the onshore converter station at Hunterson.
The largest of these transformers weighed 325 tonnes, with the entire consignment weighing in excess of 2500 tonnes.
For the duration of this charter – a three-month assignment involving three separate runs from Rotterdam to Hunterston, via the south soast of the UK – the Marine and Towage Services Group deployed its versatile multi-purpose twin-screw tug MTS Vengeance to tow the barge from port to port round Cornwall and up past Wales and northern England to Ayrshire.
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