Source of isles power cut identified

Homes on Shapinsay Stronsay, Sanday, Eday and North Ronaldsay are all continuing to receive power from mobile diesel generators today following a power cut which saw the isles cut off on yesterday morning.

Orkney Manager with Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD), Stevie Burns has said that energy supplier’s engineers have found that the fault was caused by damage to an on-shore section of a subsea cable on Shapinsay, which specialists from the company are now attempting to repair.

He said that homes in North Ronaldsay began receiving power again at 5am yesterday, while the other isles saw power restored through the afternoon, with the mobile generators being transported to them via ferry. The last of the isles saw power provided at around 5.30pm.

Repairs to the cable are expected to be complete either later today or early tomorrow. In total, 962 SHEPD customers were affected by the power cuts.

Mr Burns is also asking those with domestic turbines on the isles to “constrain” them as they can cause the mobile generators to “trip and back-feed.”