FOI Request - Blackhillock Substation Expansions

Request 101003837152

I would like to know how many times the Blackhillock Substation near Keith has applied and been granted expansion to original plans since conception?

If possible can you also tell me what the original footprint of the site was and what it is now?

Response 10-09-2025

The planning history of the Blackhillock area can be studied in detail on the public e-planning portal available via the Moray Council website via https://publicaccess.moray.gov.uk/eplanning/ and using the map search feature. The enquirer can then review of the planning decisions in the locality. Noting the question asked there is not single user, or record kept of the site areas, but these can all be accessed by searching the planning history of the locality.

In summary, the Blackhillock area has been the subject of a complex and busy planning history for which the main catalyst was the approval circa 2010 of the expanded Blackhillock substation for Scottish And Southern Electricity Transmission Limited, which was part of the national grid. Subsequent to that, other expansion was permitted in the vicinity, most notably in 2015 the approval of a further electricity and converter substation at Blackhillock 15/00631/EIA to receive energy from the Beatrice Offshore Windfarm, and this location was chosen to prepare the offshore energy for connection into the national grid at Blackhillock. What followed was a number of applications for commercial battery storage, synchronous compensators, overhead lines associated with energy transmission and storage. There are a range of logistic and technical reasons why such development has sought to be located near to the national grid major transmission hub.

Acknowledging the pressure this demand was creating upon the Blackhillock area, Moray Council prepared the Keith Green Energy and Infrastructure Framework to seek to guide future energy related development. This can be found at http://www.moray.gov.uk/downloads/file150408.pdf . The National Planning Improvement Framemwork does acknowledge Blackhillock as one of the nationally important energy transmission nodes across Scotland, and this results in the level of development now seen.