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Electricity supply and powercuts


JustMe
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You have to remember the power cables pass overground, there are many hazards to this. Airborne shorts, be it birds or rubbish can upset them, lighting too. High winds can bring them down.

It is something you need to accommodate, or get yourself an alternative power supply. There really is little that can be done. Even if they are all renewed, there will still be some problems, unless you bury all the cables.

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You have to remember the power cables pass overground, there are many hazards to this. Airborne shorts, be it birds or rubbish can upset them, lighting too. High winds can bring them down.

It is something you need to accommodate, or get yourself an alternative power supply. There really is little that can be done. Even if they are all renewed, there will still be some problems, unless you bury all the cables.

 

A manager told me they couldn't bury them as they would sink. They are keen to have our custom and apparently have dosh spare for a wind farm so why can't they run a cable not far from the shore under the seabed? Silly me, they don't have the money for that.

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Even if they are all renewed, there will still be some problems, unless you bury all the cables.
Burying cables makes line faults much harder to trace, and to fix, and given the sort of rocky ground in many parts of Shetland, and peaty bogs in others, it really isn't an option here.

 

I run all my computers/monitors/routers through high capacity UPS's (I have a total of 2Kw of UPS power in my office) so I can happily keep working for well over 30 minutes with no mains power, before I have to shut them down safely, and the expense of that gives me peace of mind and also smooths out the current and voltage which can vary a bit wildly at times.

 

Part of living in Shetland, tbh. ;)

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Oh I know all about tracing cable faults.

The cables would follow the road network, I would not try to bury cables in the hills, I would think it is hard enough to find suitable ground to install the posts. Even with our private networks it can be a nightmare.

 

A ups seems to be the way to go for data safety, at least you get a chance to shut down stuff.

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If, as I understand to be the case, the Hydro are blaming last night's problems on the connection between Gremista and the power station at Sullom Voe and if, as I seem to remember, this is not the first time we have suffered power cuts due to something happening at the Sullom Voe power station or the connection from it to Lerwick then would there be some grounds for saying that the Hydro should stop buying power from the terminal until they can sort out the problems.

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Well if the Hydro are relying on buying electricity from clapped out turbines at SVT to provide a reliable supply to Shetland then I think either the terminal should replace their turbines or the Hydro should increase their generating capacity at Gremista. Are we not entitled as customers to expect a supply of electricity that, while it may never be quite as reliable as customers on the UK mainland expect, is at least as good as it can be given that the Shetland weather has been known to be a bit extreme.

 

Meanwhile I still think that all electricity suppliers should be forced to compensate their customers for each and every interruption in supply (with maybe an exclusion clause for severe weather and a few other things such as terrorist action) on the grounds that it is a lot easier for the electricity supplier to sue an errant motorist or an over enthusiastic JCB operator for the cost of compensating their customers than it is for their customers to take individual action.

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There is a compensation package available. It seems to be agreed. Probably not for a small percentage, but the network is as it is, and any additional compensation will just be added on every ones bill.

Folk seem to want a private company to spend quite allot of money. Perhaps as a shareholder you may not agree. It is the shareholders who can lobby for this. Perhaps getting onto them at the annual shareholders meeting as well as getting on to your MP and MSP as well as MEP. Tis all you can do, or object and get your own supply.

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