Power being restored to the North Isles

The fault with the subsea cable which caused a power blackout to almost 1000 properties in many of the North Isles at the weekend has now been repaired, according to the power company, Scottish and Southern Energy.

Morven Smith from SSE said this morning: “Thankfully the fault in the subsea cable was discovered where the cable comes ashore on Shapinsay, rather than beneath the sea.”

She said that as a result the faulty part of the cable has been able to be removed and replaced much quicker than anticipated.

She explained that throughout the course of today, Thursday, power would be restored to the islands, but warned that power supplies would be interrupted at times as the isles come off generators.

“This is definitely good news, it means that the islands are not going to be fed with generators for as long as we first anticipated,” she added.

SSE also said that the other faulty cable, which runs between Westray and Eday, will be replaced and re-laid by September.