IN Brief:
- SSEN Transmission has proposed a £150m training facility in north east Scotland.
- The Aberdeenshire hub would support high-voltage network operation, maintenance, and development skills.
- The project forms part of SSEN Transmission’s wider £29bn investment programme for north of Scotland electricity infrastructure.
SSEN Transmission has set out plans for a £150m training facility in Aberdeenshire, designed to support the workforce and contractor skills needed for high-voltage electricity network operation, maintenance, and development.
The proposed facility would become a dedicated training hub for the company’s transmission workforce and contractors. It is expected to include practical operational training spaces, classrooms, and specialist facilities for a business expanding rapidly as the north of Scotland grid is reinforced.
The plans sit within SSEN Transmission’s wider £29bn investment programme to strengthen electricity infrastructure across the north of Scotland. The company has expanded five-fold over the past five years as renewable connections, transmission routes, and grid reinforcement works have accelerated.
Public consultation events are expected during 2026 to shape the design and support the planning application. Subject to planning approvals, the facility is expected to be delivered in the early 2030s and could support hundreds of trainees each year, alongside around 10 permanent training, operational, and support roles.
The hub would complement SSEN Transmission’s existing Faskally Training Centre in Perth. It is expected to include both existing and new technologies, with space where innovation can be tested before deployment onto the network.
High-voltage network delivery now spans a broad technical base. Engineers and contractors must work across overhead lines, substations, underground and subsea cable interfaces, converter stations, protection and control systems, operational telecommunications, reactive power equipment, and outage coordination.
Workforce capacity has become one of the less visible limits on the UK’s grid programme. Planning consent, regulatory allowances, and equipment procurement all receive attention, but none produces an energised network without authorised staff, site supervisors, commissioning engineers, jointers, protection specialists, control engineers, and contractors trained to work safely around high-voltage assets.
The north of Scotland has a particular training requirement because the region is central to offshore wind, onshore renewables, transmission reinforcement, and associated supply-chain activity. Existing oil and gas expertise gives the area a strong engineering base, although power transmission has its own authorisation regimes, safety procedures, asset classes, and commissioning requirements.
Grid reinforcement is already reshaping the technical workload across Britain. Reactive power equipment has been added at major substations to support voltage control as system conditions change, while transmission operators are also preparing for new circuits, converter stations, and offshore connection assets.
The proposed hub also gives the energy transition a practical skills route. Workers moving from high-carbon industries into low-carbon infrastructure need structured training, assessment, and authorisation pathways, rather than broad policy commitments alone. Transmission companies and contractors will need to convert existing electrical, mechanical, civil, offshore, and industrial experience into skills that match grid delivery requirements.
Contractor standardisation is another likely benefit. Large grid programmes use multiple delivery partners, and consistent training can reduce variability in site practice, documentation, safety culture, and operational understanding. That becomes more important as projects multiply and delivery windows tighten.
Grid investment is now constrained by time as much as capital. Britain needs transmission infrastructure to connect generation, move power to demand centres, and maintain security of supply under changing system conditions. A dedicated training facility does not energise a circuit directly, but it helps determine whether there is a workforce capable of building, operating, and maintaining those assets over decades.
