SP Energy Networks launches £5.4bn investment drive in Scotland
Image: Iberdrola
SP Energy Networks has announced tenders for £5.4 billion ($6.8 billion) in investments in the transmission infrastructure across central and southern Scotland.
The work to take place over the next ten years will include new high voltage substations, overhead line construction as well as design, engineering, construction, and electrical works.
The overhead line works include the refurbishment and reconditioning of a 400KV line involving a high temperature low sag conductor system and the design and construction of new 400kV, 275kV and 132kV lines.
The substation works include both the construction of new substations and the extension of existing substations.
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“This is one of the most significant infrastructure rollouts to upgrade the grid to support the electrification of the wider economy,” says Vicky Kelsall, CEO of SP Energy Networks, the grid business of Iberdrola subsidiary ScottishPower.
“We’ve got the plans and we’ve got the financial capital to invest, and the UK supply chain stands ready to benefit to the tune of billions.”
The works in what is the company’s largest contract ever are aimed at supporting the integration of renewable energy, with up to 85GW of clean energy due to be connected to Britain’s transmission system.
The UK government announced plans to halve the time it takes to build high voltage power lines and cut the time it takes to connect to the grid – both key to accelerating the integration of renewables and the meeting of emission reduction targets.
Expressions of interest in the works are due by January 31.
Earlier in December SP Energy Networks announced the completion of the first phase of a five-year, £200 million investment programme in its 132kV network in England and Wales.
This first phase in the Dee Valley in northeast Wales and north Shropshire and Cheshire in central England included the modernisation of 42km of overhead power lines and the refurbishment of 225 structures to make the network future-ready for new technologies such as electric vehicles.
