National Grid sits at the heart of Britain’s energy system, connecting millions of people and businesses to the energy they use every day. We bring energy to life – in the heat, light and power we bring to our customer’s homes and businesses; in the way that we support our communities and help them to grow; and in the way we show up in the world. It is our vision to be at the heart of a clean, fair and affordable energy future.

We are working to build a cleaner, fairer, and more affordable energy system that serves everyone – powering the future of our homes, transport, and industry. We believe by acting now, the UK can become the world’s first major clean economy, creating growth and jobs for communities across Britain.

National Grid is a group of companies, and one of those companies, National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET), owns, builds and maintains the network in England and Wales. It is NGET that is developing plans for the North Humber to High Marnham upgrade.

Within the National Grid Group there are other distinctly separate legal entities, each with their individual responsibilities and roles. More information about National Grid can be found on the about us section of National Grid’s website.

NGET owns, builds and maintains the high-voltage electricity transmission network in England and Wales.  This network operates primarily at 400,000 volts (400kV) and 275,000 volts (275kV).

It is NGET that is developing plans for the North Humber to High Marnham reinforcement and is the electricity transmission arm within National Grid.

National Grid ESO is the Electricity System Operator for Great Britain. The ESO makes sure we all have the essential energy we need by ensuring supply meets demand every second of every day.

Generators of electricity apply to National Grid ESO when they wish to connect to the high-voltage electricity network and the ESO leads the work to consider how the network may need to evolve to deliver a cleaner greener future. The ESO is legally separate from the rest of National Grid and in 2024 will separate from the National Grid Group to become the Future System Operator.

National Grid Ventures (NGV) operate a mix of energy assets and businesses to help accelerate the development of our clean energy future, such as undersea interconnectors that allow the UK to share energy with other European countries.

The Great Grid Upgrade is the largest overhaul of the grid in generations – making sure that renewable energy can move from where it’s generated to where it’s needed, enabling us all to power the things we love with cleaner energy.

Find out more about The Great Grid Upgrade

You can visit nationalgrid.com/the-great-grid-upgrade for more information.

NGET’s commitments when undertaking works in the UK can be found in our Stakeholder, community and amenity policy: Commitments when undertaking works in the UK.

NGET’s statutory obligations are set out in the Electricity Act 1989 (the Electricity Act) and its Transmission Licence.   We must develop and maintain an efficient, coordinated and economical transmission system, and have regard to the desirability of preserving amenity. We must also plan the network in accordance with security and quality of supply standards.

Anyone can apply to National Grid ESO to connect new sources of electricity in any part of Great Britain. NGET and the System Operator have a statutory obligation to respond with a connection offer.

In planning new connections and network reinforcements, we must carefully balance our statutory duties and ensure our proposals meet the security and quality of supply standards. Potential options to add to or reinforce the network are therefore evaluated against these obligations.

We are regulated by Ofgem (the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets). Ofgem operate under the direction and governance of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA) and it has established price control mechanisms to ensure that the investment required to maintain a reliable and secure network is delivered at a fair price for consumers.

Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and as such, we are also regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK.

DESNZ, is a ministerial department responsible for delivering security of energy supply, ensuring properly functioning energy markets, encouraging greater energy efficiency and seizing the opportunities of net zero to lead the world in new green industries.

Following the Government’s ‘Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution’ in December 2020, an energy white paper entitled ‘Powering Our Net Zero Future’ was published , setting out how the UK will clean up its energy system and reach net zero emissions by 2050. In the British Energy Security Strategy published in April 2022, Government increased the ambition to see 50 GW of offshore wind connected by 2030. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) works alongside Ofgem in setting the framework within which National Grid ESO, National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) and the wider energy sector operate.

Government’s Offshore Transmission Network Review is currently looking at how the offshore electricity transmission network can be delivered in a more coordinated way to deliver net zero emissions by 2050, and we fully support that work. We will work closely with Government, stakeholders and coastal communities to ensure we play our part to deliver the infrastructure needed to achieve net zero in a way that reduces impacts on communities. 

In meeting that challenge there are two key considerations. The first is the way in which we best connect and coordinate the growth of offshore wind farms and interconnectors to the electricity transmission network along the immediate coastline. The second is the network reinforcements required further inland to accommodate the increased demand on the network and to ensure we can effectively transport the power to where it is needed across Great Britain.

That offshore coordination work by Government is ongoing. As explained in the Energy White Paper, Government will be looking to redesign the current regime to bring more extensive coordination and mitigate environmental, social and economic costs for the 2030s and beyond.

While developers are encouraged, where early opportunities for coordination exist, to consider becoming pathfinder projects, National Grid ESO explains in the latest Network Options Assessment, that there are a significant number of onshore reinforcement projects needed to meet the 2030 ambitions. A large number of those are considered ‘essential’ to achieving those ambitions, including this proposed network reinforcement between North Humber and High Marnham.

Ofgem (the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) is the government regulator for gas and electricity markets in Great Britain. Ofgem is a non-ministerial government department and an independent National Regulatory Authority, whose role is to protect consumers through delivering a greener, fairer, energy system. Ofgem works with Government, industry and consumer groups to help deliver a net zero economy at the lowest cost possible to consumers.

Further information about Ofgem is available on its website www.ofgem.gov.uk or you can call the Consumer Affairs team on 020 7901 7295 or email [email protected]. 

On 7 July 2022, National Grid ESO published its Pathway to 2030 Holistic Network Design (HND), which recommends an optimal transmission network arrangement to support the large-scale delivery of electricity generated from offshore wind over that period, taking power to where it's needed across Great Britain.

The HND provides connection recommendations for 23 GW of offshore wind and the associated transmission network infrastructure required to get the power to where it is needed. With existing installed offshore wind capacity and other projects that are advanced in their development, the HND will help deliver the Government’s ambition for 50 GW of connected offshore wind by 2030.

In developing the HND, the National Grid ESO is bringing together onshore and offshore network planning to allow the development of engineering solutions for the country’s transmission infrastructure that connects offshore wind projects to the network in a coordinated way.

The objectives for the development of the HND are that it should be cost-efficient and deliverable, but also to minimise the impact new coordinated infrastructure has on communities and the environment.

Currently the UK is home to the largest operating offshore wind capacity in the world at around 11.3 GW. Government, as set out in the British Energy Security Strategy, is looking to increase that to 50 GW by 2030 – more than enough to power every home in the country. This growth in renewable energy generation, coupled with greater interconnection between our transmission network and networks in other countries, in line with the Government’s net zero agenda, is driving a need to increase the capability of our transmission system, as power flows are set to exceed the capability of the existing network in the next decade.

The North Humber to High Marnham proposals will help strengthen the electricity transmission network between the North and the Midlands. It will add capability to accommodate increasing power flows from offshore wind and interconnection in both Scotland and the north-east of England, which is expected to double within the next ten years. It also needs to be in place before planned new offshore wind and interconnectors coming ashore on the East Yorkshire coast can connect to the network. These include Dogger Bank South offshore wind farm, Continental Link interconnector with Norway and Atlantic Superconnection interconnector with Iceland. 

Without reinforcement to provide additional network capability, constraint action is likely to be needed during periods of high wind generation and high interconnection imports. The cost of that constraint action is ultimately passed on to consumers.

The Network Option Assessment (NOA) provides the Electricity System Operator’s recommendations for which network reinforcement projects should be taken forward and for when. The NOA 2021/22 Refresh recommends the most economic investment strategy for these network reinforcements and outlines the pathway to 2030 and beyond.

As part of this refresh, The Midlands, South and East of England – which covers areas spanning from the Humber in the North to East Anglia and the Thames Estuary in the south – have been identified as areas in need of network reinforcement to enable the connection of more offshore wind on the East Coast.

North Humber to High Marnham forms an important part of our plans in this region – helping increase power flows from the North to the Midlands and facilitating the connection of offshore wind and interconnectors. We are now working to determine the most suitable areas for this network reinforcement, which involves routeing a new overhead line from the Creyke Beck area, northwest of Hull, to High Marnham in Nottinghamshire.

We will keep this website updated with information on our proposals. Please email [email protected] to register your email to be provided with project updates. 

We are now analysing the feedback received, as well as carrying out environmental and technical surveys. We will write to local communities along the route again before our next stage of public consultation in 2024. 

The existing pylons are designed to carry two separate electrical circuits, one on either side of the tower. They cannot carry more circuits, but they will be designed to carry as much power as possible while operating to the Security and Quality of Supply Standards that the network is operated to.

We know that our responsibility as a business goes beyond safely building new energy infrastructure to enable a cleaner, fairer and affordable future.  We want to leave a lasting positive impact where we build our projects to help those areas and communities thrive and to support a sustainable future.  There are four key areas where we believe we can bring benefit to local communities and stakeholder groups who are hosting the infrastructure that supports the green energy transition:

•            Natural Environment – we will build partnerships with environmental groups and NGOs where we can support initiatives that enhance the landscape, biodiversity, and availability of green space within the areas we are constructing our projects.

•            Net Zero – we will work collaboratively with local authorities and partner organisations to offer our expertise and support in delivering the net zero priorities for that region.

•            Skills and employment – we will extend our Grid for Good programme to deliver training and skills development in the region that will ultimately deliver employment opportunities in the net zero industry.  In addition to this, we will work with our suppliers to develop opportunities for local employment and to bring benefit to the local economy through our projects. We also work with schools and local authorities to encourage the next generation of engineers and help the long term unemployed develop new skills.

•            Community Grant Programme - through our Community Grant Programme, charities and not-for-profit organisations can apply for a grant towards community-based initiatives that deliver social, economic, and environmental benefits.

We hope, therefore, that the development needed to support the transition to a cleaner, greener future, can deliver sustainable, green growth and an economic ‘ripple effect’ that will continue for years.