Trust could face a loss of £2.5 million

Point and Sandwick Trust (P&ST) has confirmed that it could stand to lose up to £2.5m in income as a result of the failure of the subsea electricity transmission cable linking Lewis and Harris to the mainland grid.
Trust have confirmed they could lose up to £2.5mTrust have confirmed they could lose up to £2.5m
Trust have confirmed they could lose up to £2.5m

P&ST operates the Beinn Ghrideag wind farm on the outskirts of Stornoway, and the Trust makes grants from the income it receives from its wind farm operations to local social, cultural, educational and environmental projects. 

But last week, electricity network company, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), confirmed that the 32 kilometre sub-sea transmission cable that P&ST relies on to export its electricity to the mainland grid is now not operational and cannot be repaired. 

SSEN has said that it has started the process of procuring a full replacement of the cable but it may take up to 12 months before the link is fully restored, and meanwhile, P&ST will not be able to generate any output or income from its wind farm operations. 

The Trust has confirmed that it does have insurance and if the cable outage is shown to be the result of accidental damage rather than wear and tear, then that insurance will cover a maximum of five out of the potential 12 months’ of lost income. 

However if the investigations show wear and tear is to blame, P&ST have confirmed that no sums will be payable .

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