United Kingdom accelerates transmission grid modernisation

British electricity network operator National Grid has decided to fast-track a planned overhead line upgrade project. It aims to bring forward connections for around 175 new clean energy projects by up to 4 years.

Great Britain is investing 90 million pounds in upgrading its high-voltage transmission system. The project was originally scheduled to begin in January 2025, but the British government decided to accelerate the upgrade and start construction as early as January 2024, with completion targeted for October 2025.

Conductors spanning 229 high-voltage pylons will need to be replaced along an 82 km high-voltage transmission line between the regions of Hampshire and Wiltshire in south-west England. The new, more thermally efficient cables will allow more power to flow, increasing capacity by around 3000 MVA.

The move should enable new generation sources to be integrated into the grid more quickly; their connection is currently delayed until 2028.

National Grid recently announced plans to fast-track the connection of up to 20 GW of new low-emission electricity sources. To put this into perspective, that is equivalent to the capacity of six Hinkley Point C nuclear power stations. The company is also seeking to shorten the development time for battery storage projects with a capacity of 10 GW by up to four years.

"We recently announced the most radical modernisation of the grid since the 1950s," said Graham Stuart, Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero. "The new plans will halve the time needed to build the necessary power lines, from 14 to 7 years, and cut the average delay in connecting projects to the grid from five years to just six months."