Thousands of homes lost power after lightning strike 30/12/12
A major power cut blacked out every property across the Western Isles and Skye on Saturday night.
A lightning strike on overhead power lines on the west coast mainland knocked out the electricity network at the back of 10pm.
Around 21,000 properties in Skye and the Outer Hebrides as well as in the Lochalsh area were affected.
Engineers had supplies restored in a hour on Lewis and Harris by firing up the Stornoway diesel power station. In other areas supplies were back on within two hours.
A spokesperson for suppliers Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) said: “On Saturday night, the Western Isles and Skye were affected by an outage due to a lightening strike on the main transmission line.
“21,000 customers were affected. The power went off after 10pm and was back on after a couple of hours.”
The spokesman said the power returned after electricity supplies were rerouted to the region.
He said SSE appreciated customers’ patience and highlighted the power cut was caused by the weather and out of the firm’s control.
The powercut occurred during one of the busiest nights of the season with crowds
enjoying a pre-
However, many music gigs were silenced as speakers and electric guitars were soundless and electronic tills didn’t operate.
Some affected venues were said to have close earlier than usual but other pub landlords reported that staff were busier than ever during the blackout
In Stornoway, the Critters ceilidh band reportedly played on in the Criterion Bar and staff laid on party food for hungry revellers. Fortunately, they had got extra candles in for a cake to celebrate a customer’s 50th birthday so had an alternative light source.
It is understood the Crown Bar rigged up a portable generator to allow the musicians
to entertain the crowd while there were impromptu Gaelic songs from customers in
a torch-
Meanwhile, an earlier powercut affected the Western Isles on Saturday. However, the five hour outage happened in the middle of the night and the vast majorities of properties were back on by dawn. Localised faults meant some homes in Harris and Callanish, Lewis, were without power for longer.
Recently, the electricity network in the Western Isles has been strengthened further through a £1.8 million investment in preparation for the winter.
Engineers based across the Western Isles have spent several months ramping up maintenance and refurbishment on key parts of the local electricity network operated by Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) to ensure the power equipment is ready.
In North Uist and Barra, engineers have completed a £87,000 complex engineering project to refurbish the overhead lines. In Harris engineers have been working in a £100,000 project to refurbish the overhead lines between Tarbert and Rodel.
Line patrols have taken place throughout the Western Isles to give a strategic detailed view of the electricity network condition.
Particular attention has been placed on the main fault areas from last year to identify parts which may have caused problems again, enabling the hydro to take proactive steps to help prevent reoccurrences this year.
A significant amount of tree cutting has been carried out to reduce the risk of power lines being brought down by trees and branches in high winds in the Laxdale, Newmarket, Tong, Coll and Newvalley areas on Lewis.