National Grid gets £4.5bn Great Grid Upgrade underway
National Grid has announced two significant moves to get it’s Great Grid Upgrade underway. As part of the Upgrade, the British utility called for programme partnerships valued at £4.5 billion, as well as comments on a proposed 90km transmission project.
National Grid is calling the Great Grid Upgrade the “largest overhaul of the grid in generations”.
Call for partnerships
The utility issued a call for supply chain partners to deliver the major grid upgrade, representing £4.5 billion ($5.6 billion) worth of network construction by 2030.
The programme will initially centre on nine onshore projects across England and Wales, part of the significant new electricity network infrastructure needed to move more clean energy from where it’s generated to where it’s needed.
Two design and consenting service partners and four to six construction partners are sought to join National Grid in the partnership and deliver the infrastructure required, such as new overhead lines and substations.
The ‘enterprise’ partnership approach aims to deliver integrated planning and development across projects, enabling the supply chain to combine capacity, capability, knowledge and experience to accelerate delivery.
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In a press release on the announcement, National Grid director of onshore delivery, Matt Staley commented on the Great Grid Upgrade and its sought partnerships: “By taking a partnership approach, we aim to deliver integrated planning and working between projects, enabling the supply chain to accelerate delivery and deliver cost efficiencies – in turn delivering value for money for consumers and working with local communities to leave a positive legacy.
“By working together we can connect more clean, renewable energy from where it’s generated out at sea to where it’s needed, helping contribute to lower energy bills over the long-term, providing a catalyst for a green jobs boom and making the UK’s energy more self-sufficient.”
The Great Grid: From substation to substation
At the same time as the call for partnerships, National Grid announced proposals for a 90km transmission project, which they state is in early development.
The project involves construction of a new high-voltage electricity transmission line and associated works between a substation in the East Riding of Yorkshire and a substation at High Marnham in Nottinghamshire.
The utility has opened the proposed project up for comments from potentially affected communities.
The proposal involves a new high-voltage electricity power line from North Humber to High Marnham in the UK as part of National Grid’s efforts to overhaul overhead lines, pylons, cables and other transmission infrastructure across the country.
In a press statement on the project, the utility commented on the lack of power line capacity between the North and the Midlands, an aspect of the energy transition much needed as green energy power flows continue to increase: “…we are proposing to build approximately 90km of new 400,000 volt (400kV) overhead power line, between new substations at Creyke Beck and High Marnham, to increase the capacity of the network.
“We need to make changes to the network of overhead lines, pylons, cables and other infrastructure that transports electricity around the country, so that everyone has access to the clean electricity from these new renewable sources.”
The North Humber to High Marnham proposal will support the UK’s net zero target by reinforcing the electricity transmission network between the north of England and the Midlands and facilitate the connection of planned offshore wind generation and interconnectors with other countries, allowing clean green energy to be carried on the network.
The reinforcement is needed, they explain, as existing power lines do not have sufficient capacity for all the new sources of electricity expected to connect to the network over the next 10 years and beyond.
According to Rachel Tullis, National Grid project director, the new infrastructure will connect green energy generated from the Humber and in the North Sea to the main grid; the motivation behind the Great Grid Upgrade.
“This consultation launch is the beginning of our engagement with communities and stakeholders along the proposed route corridor and we encourage people to share their views,” commented Tullis.
According to National Grid, the UK currently has 13.6GW of offshore wind energy in operation alongside ambitions of 50GW by 2030.
To power up the country, the grid needs to be expanded, this is according to both the UK Government in Powering up Britain, as well as the International Energy Agency in their latest investment report.
