Thousands of homes and businesses in and around St Andrews – the home of golf – are set to benefit from a multi-million investment boost to upgrade the local electricity network and increase its capacity to support a cleaner and greener future thanks to SP Energy Networks.
The £20 million improvement project – the network operator’s biggest in the region over the next four years – will see a new primary substation installed in Guardbridge, west of St Andrews.
The substation will be connected to the grid via two new underground cable circuits, totalling 12km in length, running between Guardbridge and Cupar.
Works will get underway at the end of this month and continue until the end of 2025.
Part of SP Energy Networks’ overall £85 million spending programme across Central and Fife between 2023-2028, the project will ensure local people and communities continue to benefit from a modern, resilient and reliable electricity network.
It will also boost network capacity to facilitate the estimated 30% increase in electricity demand in the St Andrew’s area over the next ten years as more and more people make the switch to low-carbon technologies like electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps.
SP Energy Networks’ Project Manager, Archie Ferguson, said, “To put it into perspective, this project will deliver enough additional capacity to support 1,800 new EV charging points and 1,200 heat pumps across St Andrew’s and the surrounding towns and villages. It will also support new grid connections for renewable energy projects like wind and solar farms, so it’s very much about getting the network ready for that clean energy future.
“I have no doubt this will make a real difference for generations to come and support local ambitions to become a net zero region by 2045 – we’re proud to be playing our part.”
