Resilience Minister Keith Brown has visited Shetland to see first-hand the work going on to restore power after days of blackouts.
There are still 2,400 homes without power – more than half the number first impacted after heavy snow damaged the lines on Monday night.
Another weather warning for Shetland will come into force at midnight until 10am.
SSEN engineers were ferried and flown to the island on Tuesday after the Scottish Government’s resilience team declared a major incident.
Mr Brown said the efforts of the 15 crews – made up of 125 engineers – was “really quite striking”.
Engineers have been replacing core infrastructure, including overhead power lines. It could be the end of the week before the issue is fully resolved.
Speaking to The Press and Journal from Shetland, Mr Brown said: “The response from SSEN, and I’m seeing that on the ground here today, has been really quite striking. They have over 100 staff here, which is 10 times the normal complement on Shetland. They have equipment that’s arrived already and much more still to arrive.”
During his visit Mr Brown spoke to some of the residents affected.
Impact on infrastructure has been ‘catastrophic’
Many locals, including councillor and broadcaster Tom Morton, said the impact of the snow on the island’s infrastructure had been “catastrophic” and the “worst weather storm” since December 1995 when electricity poles iced over.
Warm centres have been opened for those without power, giving them a place to stay cosy and get a hot meal or contact relatives.
Ivan Mitchell, part of SSEN’s overhead lines crew from Inverness, is among the engineers working to get the power restored.
In a short video update, he said: “The conditions have been challenging, although the sun has been out a little bit today which is helping a little.
“The damage, and extent of the damage, is fairly serious so there’s a lot of work to be done but we’re trying to get through this as quick as we can.”
Our teams are continuing to do all they can to restore customers’ supplies on Shetland following the extreme weather – in this short video we hear from Ivan Mitchell, part our overhead lines crew from Inverness and see some examples of the damage our network has experienced. pic.twitter.com/c823oWF8jM
— ssencommunity (@ssencommunity) December 15, 2022
Communications resilience crucial
At First Minister’s Questions today, Liberal Democrat Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart pressed the Scottish Government to do more to protect rural and island communities, arguing more adverse weather is likely due to climate change.
Pushing for communication resilience, she said: “The Scottish Government need to recognise that island and rural areas rely on communication connections to remain viable communities.
“The north-east of Scotland faced similar communication issues after Storm Arwen, where batteries had died days before the power was restored and community support could not be relayed to those with landlines reliant on broadband and power networks.
“The Scottish Government is not responsible for the weather. But with weather events likely to become more erratic due to climate change more must be done to ensure that our power and communication connections are resilient and able to inform and help residents.”
Nicola Sturgeon, who was later due to attend a meeting of the government’s resilience room, said: “The Scottish Government’s resilience operation was formally activated on Tuesday to provide whatever support and coordination we can.
“I will take the point about communications resilience to those in that meeting and ask for consideration of what more the Scottish Government can do to support the communication efforts because that it important, although I know everybody is working hard to communicate information as best as they possibly can.”
Efforts being made to get information out
Mr Brown acknowledged the importance of being able to communicate with friends and family, but said any issues around communications raised with him during the meeting had been about a specific mobile phone network.
He added: “The efforts that have been made by the police and by the local community – don’t forget one third of the working population in Shetland works for the council, so through the council as well – to communicate by whichever means with the rest of the population, including those that are most vulnerable, has been extraordinary.”
Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands, Jamie Halcro Johnston, said he had been “disappointed” by Ms Sturgeon’s response at FMQs – and that more needs to be done.
He said: “I am disappointed that, in her response, the first minister simply repeated information we already know about the seriousness of the situation, while providing little detail on what the Scottish Government was actually doing to help.
“The local council and other local bodies have been working hard to help those in need. But Nicola Sturgeon seemed to suggest that, so far, her government’s response has been to hold a meeting and put a minister on a plane north.
“I think families in Shetland should be able to expect, after days dealing with the impact of this weather incident, a little more concrete action from the government in Edinburgh.”
Last month, Mrs Wishart and the Shetland Fishermen’s Association called for cable corridors around Shetland to ensure greater resilience after the communications outage that affected Shetland in October.
- Customers are entitled to claim up to £30 per person for every 24 hours they are without power.
Shetland power outages: What help is available as work to restore service continues
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