Power cable is unloaded
The cable that will restore mains supply electricity to the remote Lake District village of Wasdale Head has been delivered.
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Cable arrives to reconnect remote Lakes village
A huge cable that will reconnect mains electricity to the remote Lakes village of Wasdale Head has arrived.
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Power cable arrives at Wasdale Head
Giant transporter has snaked the country roads to a remote Lake District village carrying a custom built underwater cable weighing 19 tonnes. It will be used to help restore mains electricity to isolated community which has been without mains power since last December.
The 11 properties in the remote valley of Wasdale Head have been supplied with electricity from generators since December after a fault occurred on a power cable that runs through Wastwater.
The lake is also the deepest in England, at 79 metres, but the cable will sit out-of- sight on a contour around 30 metres deep.Jane Fleetwood, response manager for Electricity North West, said:
"It's an extremely complicated engineering challenge to restore mains power to such a remote and unique location and we're confident we have a solution that will last.
"We restored power the same day as the fault by providing generators, and it's taken a lot of planning and background work with local residents and businesses, as well as the council, National Trust and Natural England to reach this stage of the project.
"As with previous phases, we will do everything we can to minimise disruption, keep residents updated and complete the work as safely and quickly as possible."
Power cut compensation ‘inadequate’
A report into compensation levels for power cuts by the Scottish Affairs Committee says compensation needs to be set at more realistic level. It says that it is necessary to deal with the effect on consumers and encourage high quality performance from energy companies.
The committee noted that energy companies did pay compensation to some consumers affected by storms in January but say this should be a right and not at the discretion of the company.
Among other recommendations the committee says:
- Ofgem should consider increasing compensation levels so that they more realistically reflect the effect on consumers
- Ofgem, power companies and local authorities should work together to ensure the maximum flow of information to customers and to enable the identification of vulnerable individuals in an emergency situation
- Ofgem should report to the Committee on how well transmission and distribution network operators are working together to improve electricity supply to the communities which suffered the most during recent storms.
- Contingency plans should be established and practiced regularly
Lifting the gloom of Lake District beauty spot
Electricity boss pledge for village
Jane Fleetwood, response manager Electricity North West, said " We will do the work as quickly as we can and keep people informed. We have promised there will be no disruption over Easter. It's such a wonderful area and lots of people come at that time so we won't disrupt the Easter holidays."
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Wasdale to be reconnected
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