Distribution tales from the riverbank

We’re currently carrying out a ￡4.1m project to replace over 3.7km of underground cables between our Persley and Bridge of Don substations in Aberdeen.

The work that’s going on is all about making the local electricity network as strong as possible - reducing the risk of power cuts for customers in over 7,000 homes and businesses across the Bridge of Don area.

And as well as improving reliability for customers, our teams are also increasing the capacity of the local network – that is, the amount of power it can deliver – and this will support the higher demand that comes with the growing number of EV chargers and heat pumps in this busy part of the Granite City.

While most of us have seen teams at work installing underground cables in towns and cities, it’s probably fair to say that not so many will be aware of how we go about routing a cable under a river bed!

If you know Aberdeen you’ll know that the River Don is a major part of the city’s identity; and with the river also running through the area where our project teams are working, we needed to factor this in at the very early stages of planning. And that’s where the use of a horizontal directional drill (HDD) comes into its own.

By using an HDD, this innovative piece of machinery brings two benefits:

1. It allows us to install our new cables deep beneath the River Don without disturbing the actual river and,
2. It means we don’t have to look at alternative route across dry land, which could have added extra kilometres of cabling to the project and potentially involved works on the busy local roads.

We’ve been out to the project site recently to see the drill in action for ourselves, and also speak with colleagues who could tell us all how it works.

Catching up with our Senior Project Manager, Jack Graham , and Keith Elliott , who is the Drilling Technical Manager with our specialist contractor, Nicol Of Skene Ltd , was really fascinating and enlightening – we hope you enjoy the short behind-the-scenes video we made about the visit.