Sale of land at Old Quarry site, Westmount Gardens to Jersey Electricity plc for creation of electricity substation For consideration by the Parish Assembly on 27 November 2013 at 7.00pm PARISH OF ST HELIER P.07/2013
PROPOSITION THE PARISHIONERS are asked to take into consideration and if deemed advisable, to approve the sale of an area of approximately 9,688 square feet of Westmount Gardens to Jersey Electricity plc for the construction of an electricity substation to serve the Parish of St Helier for the financial consideration of 250,000 from Jersey Electricity plc, 83,000 from the States Treasury, the latter to be ring fenced for an urban renewal project on Parish land, and an area of land of approximately 39,200 square feet adjacent to the western end of Westmount Gardens from the Public of the Island. Jersey Electricity plc to pay for the Parish s legal fees involved in the transaction and the Assembly to authorise the Connétable and Procureurs du Bien Public to pass the necessary contract in relation thereto. JE REPORT Proposal To build a new primary substation to remove the pressure on existing electrical infrastructure which is becoming aged and stressed due to the high electrical loadings and to build network resilience and capacity to meet future demand for electricity in the west, north-west and south of the Parish of St Helier. Background information Since 2006 Jersey Electricity (JE) has been working on a proposal to reinforce the primary network in the west of St Helier, by installing a new 40MW substation located between the Esplanade and Queens Road Primary substations. The location is critical as it must relieve the electrical loadings on the Esplanade and Queens Road substations and offer secure integration to the existing
network, minimising cable lengths and maximising cable separation. It must also be located away from residential areas so as to both minimise any safety risk as well as provide access to JE for maintenance purposes and during emergency situations. The electricity network in the west and north-west of St Helier is served by two existing primary substations, located at the Esplanade (firm capacity of 30MW installed in 1984) and Queens Road (firm capacity of 34MVA installed in 1965). Some of this infrastructure is becoming aged and stressed and is in urgent need of renewal. In addition, increasing demand for electricity in the Parish means that today the total load across these 2 primary substations regularly exceeds the total firm capacity of 64MW, with the largest demand experienced on these sites being 70MW. Consequently, users of electricity across a broad area of St Helier are increasingly at risk of a major fault at 90kV or 33kV, which would result in rota disconnections in winter evenings whilst the fault was repaired, a process that could take up to 6 months with considerable disruption to power supplies to homes and businesses. In addition, general development in St Helier and the Esplanade has used up all available electrical power capacity in the area. More development is planned both the upgrading of existing sites and new build on new sites, as well as renewed supplies to private residences, that all require urgent expansion of the power network. Location The proposed location of the new Primary Substation is in an old quarry on the lower slope of Westmount Gardens at West Park (see Appendix 1) which will ensure minimum inconvenience to Parishioners and relatively easy integration in the existing JE network. The profile of the site will also allow the substation to be cut into the existing land bank, granite faced and screened by trees
and shrubs, thereby considerably reducing the visual impact of the building and loss of amenity (see Appendix 7, 8, and 9) This location is one of seven sites (see Appendix 2) which were explored in detail with various agencies over the past few years. The other sites were rejected for various reasons including the weakness of the resulting technical solutions, which would result in a risk to security of supply, and the close proximity to residential property, which would present a higher safety risk to residents. Substation Design The proposed substation will consist of two 90/11kV system transformers with controlling 90kV switchgear and an 11kV switchboard along with protection and control gear. The site has to be relatively large to incorporate two 90/11kV low noise primary transformers; which typically measure 11m (length) x 4m (width) x 6m (height) and weigh 55 tonnes each. The total substation will measure about 30m (length) x 25m (width) x 8m (height) (see Appendix 5 and 6). PARISH REPORT FINANCIAL OFFER Following the closure of the stone quarry, it was partially infilled probably with waste from the Westmount works quarry and circa 1988 further infill was applied to reduce the height of the granite parapet wall. Since then it has been planted to form part of the green backdrop. The scheme proposes a structure to an appropriate height of the existing stone parapet with access to the building via La Route de St Aubin. The Parish is advised that such access will be minimal with all vehicles being stationed off the garden footpaths.
Jersey Electricity is offering the sum of 250,000 for the freehold of the site subject to planning permission, and a further 83,000 has been offered from the States of Jersey, the latter sum to be ring-fenced for an urban renewal project on Parish land and expended within two years of Planning approval being granted for the project. An area of land approximately four times the size of that being offered to Jersey Electricity will be gifted to the Parish from the States of Jersey Property Holdings to compensate for the loss of amenity space (see Appendix 1 and 3). This land is situated immediately to the west of, and adjacent to, the parish owned Westmount gardens and will be planted to replicate the green backdrop of the area (see Appendix 4). Following completion of the structure all roads, footpaths, walls, gardens or other areas which have been disturbed will be made good as part of Jersey Electricity s contract. Jersey Electricity has agreed to transfer the site back to the Parish in the event that the facility is no longer required by the company at a time in the future. This sum of one third of a million pounds, coupled with the offsetting plot, is considerably more than was originally offered by JE and it has been negotiated by the Constable and Procureurs du Bien Public in order to compensate the Parish for the loss of amenity land at Westmount Gardens. It is intended that the funds will be used to enhance the amenity value of a Parish owned site, a proposal for which will be brought to a future Parish Assembly once the Roads Committee has had the opportunity to consider the potential areas for improvement. The Roads Committee has discussed the proposed installation of a substation in Westmount Gardens on several occasions, considerable concern has been expressed about the loss of valuable open space in this sensitive area, while the need to safeguard electricity supplies for current and future Parishioners is also recognised. The offsetting plot, which is four times the footprint of the substation, is designed to mitigate the loss of open space to the Parish (see Appendix 4).
Appendix 1 Substation site and proposed land swap site (Offsetting landswap site = 4 x footprint of substation)
Appendix 2 Alternative sites considered during evaluation
Appendix 3 Land Swap located in Val Andre Valley at Overdale (3,644 sq m = 39,200 sq ft)
Appendix 4 Photo image of substation and land swap sites (Offsetting landswap site = 4 x footprint of substation)
Appendix 5 Site plan of substation
Appendix 6 Side and front elevation of substation
Appendix 7 Substation photomontage
Appendix 8 Substation photomontage
Appendix 9 Substation photomontage