Overview – Summer 2022
National Grid’s contractor, Balfour Beatty, has connected the new high voltage 400kV underground cables through the Mendip Hills in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to the new overhead line at Loxton.
In July 2022, we removed the temporary scaffolding at Loxton cable sealing end compound erected to create a sterile environment for specialist engineers to connect the new underground cables to the new line of T-pylons that will help carry low carbon energy to six million homes and businesses.
The next step for the cabling team is to finish jointing and testing the cables, ahead of their energisation in October 2022.
We’re pleased to be putting 8.5 kilometres of the Hinkley Connection route underground through this very special landscape of the Mendip Hills in response to community feedback received during consultation. By doing so, we are leaving this part of the Area of Outstanding Beauty free of pylons for the first time in 91 years.
28 existing pylons between Loxton and Sandford will be removed by summer 2022 with the eight closest to Sandford substation programmed for removal next year, bringing us another step closer to removing 67 kilometres of overhead line by the time the Hinkley Connection Project is completed in 2025.
Thank you from everyone working on the project for your patience as we continue our work to deliver electricity safely, efficiently, and reliably, and support the UK’s ambition to achieve net zero by 2050.
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