First Minister Alex Salmond chaired a further meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Committee (SGoRR) this afternoon where he was given an update on the work being undertaken by Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution (SSEPD) to identify the cause of last night’s power outage.
SSEPD confirmed they have now visually inspected some 90km of lines where the fault is believed to have occurred. This was carried out by helicopter and by staff on the ground but as yet no visible damage or signs of the fault have been identified.
SSEPD informed the First Minister that the fault was transient (i.e. non-damaging to the lines) as the system came back on line with no issues. Such faults can be caused by foreign objects striking the lines such as debris in windy weather, lightning strike, pollution or equipment failures.
The First Minister also took the opportunity to praise the hard work of all involved in getting the power back on last night, including those keeping customers informed. The First Minister also received updates from Police Scotland, Transport Scotland and the NHS and was assured that all emergency procedures worked well. He also thanked them for the role they played.