IN Brief:
- SSEN Transmission has started main construction on the Netherton Hub near Peterhead.
- The project will include 400kV and 132kV substations and HVDC converter stations.
- Local suppliers have already secured £6.6m of spend linked to early works.
SSEN Transmission has started main construction on the Netherton Hub near Peterhead, advancing a key part of its £29bn electricity network upgrade programme in the north of Scotland.
The project will deliver a 400kV substation, a 132kV substation, and HVDC converter stations to support the Spittal to Peterhead, Eastern Green Link 3, and Eastern Green Link 5 subsea projects.
Balfour Beatty is working with SSEN Transmission on the development, with local contractors, apprentices, and project teams joining the groundbreaking event. The start of main construction follows Aberdeenshire Council’s approval of the remaining planning conditions required for the scheme to progress.
SSEN Transmission said £6.6m has already been spent with Aberdeenshire suppliers on initial earthworks and cable works, supporting around 120 local jobs. Local contractors will continue to play a role during delivery alongside wider regional and national supply-chain partners.
The hub will also support early careers and apprenticeships, with graduate staff and apprentices expected to gain experience on a strategic clean energy infrastructure project. Local civil engineering and concrete contractors are already involved in the work.
Netherton forms part of a wider build-out of grid infrastructure across Scotland. National Grid’s progress on Eastern Green Link 5 and BAM’s ASTI substation contract for SSEN Transmission show how transmission work is becoming one of the most active construction markets in the country.
Substation and converter station projects combine heavy civils with specialist electrical systems, security, access, drainage, temporary works, environmental protection, and commissioning. The early phases may centre on earthworks, platforms, foundations, roads, and concrete, but electrical installation and energisation depend on those civil packages being delivered to tight tolerances and firm programmes.
Regional supply-chain participation is becoming a stronger feature of grid delivery. Major infrastructure clients are under pressure to show that communities hosting new transmission assets receive economic benefit through local procurement, apprenticeships, training, community investment, and long-term employment routes.
For the north-east of Scotland, grid construction sits alongside the region’s wider energy transition. Existing oil and gas skills, civils capability, port infrastructure, fabrication knowledge, and electrical expertise are increasingly being drawn into renewable and transmission projects.
That transition will require sustained local capacity rather than short bursts of work. Contractors will need access to trained labour, reliable materials supply, plant, accommodation, transport planning, and specialist supervision if the region is to capture the full value of the pipeline.
The start of main construction gives Netherton Hub a visible place in that pipeline. Its progress will be watched as a transmission project and as a measure of how clean energy infrastructure can convert national investment into regional construction work.
