Norwich to Tilbury frequently asked questions

Norwich to Tilbury (N-T) is a proposal to reinforce the grid between Norwich and Bramford and then on to Tilbury. It would be approximately 183 km long and made up mainly of new pylons and overhead lines with some underground cables.

The Government has set a target that by 2050 the UK will have net zero carbon emissions. More of our energy will come from renewables as part of the transition to a cleaner, greener future.

We need to build new infrastructure, as well as upgrading the existing grid, to bring this clean, green energy from where it’s generated to where it’s needed by homes and businesses.

The network in East Anglia was built in the 1960s to cope with the level of demand at that time.

Our existing power lines do not have enough capacity for all the new energy generation expected to connect in the region – including offshore wind farms connecting at Norwich and Necton, as well as on the Tendring Peninsula. There will be more electricity connecting in East Anglia than the network can currently accommodate.

Before our consultation last year, we looked at a number of options – including subsea cables. 

As the cost of all connections ultimately goes onto the electricity bills of domestic and business consumers, the UK government, and our regulator Ofgem require us to develop proposals which represent value for money to consumers.

An offshore connection would have a third of the capacity of an overhead line – to carry the same amount of power generation, three offshore links would be needed as well associated infrastructure such as converter stations near the existing substations at Norwich Main substation and Tilbury.

At this consultation we have published our Strategic Options Backcheck and Review (SOBR), which re-examines the work we undertook in 2022. The SOBR concludes that our work and decisions made in 2022 to discount the offshore option remain valid.

As the cost of all connections ultimately goes onto the electricity bills of domestic and business consumers, the UK government, and our regulator Ofgem require us to develop proposals which represent value for money to consumers.  

We also have to consider the national policy statements. EN-5 is the National Policy Statement (NPS) which covers developing new electricity networks infrastructure and it states that the government expects overhead lines will often be appropriate.

Our proposals include underground cable within the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), within its setting, and select other areas.

Different designs in use in the UK include :

• standard lattice
• lower height lattice
• T-pylons

We will be carrying out further assessments on pylon design. Our assessments will include visual impacts and mitigation, environmental and ecological considerations, construction, and lifetime maintenance effects.

For the purposes of this initial assessment, the preferred draft alignment reflects the use of standard lattice pylons. The use of other pylon designs is still under consideration, if an overhead line route is progressed.

Before our consultation last year, we looked at a number of options – including subsea cables. 

As the cost of all connections ultimately goes onto the electricity bills of domestic and business consumers, the UK government, and our regulator Ofgem require us to develop proposals which are in line with Government policy, legislation to protect the environment and represent value for money to consumers. 

An offshore connection would have a third of the capacity of an overhead line – to carry the same amount of power generation, three offshore projects would be needed as well associated infrastructure such as converter stations near the existing substations at Norwich Main substation and Tilbury. 

At this 2023 consultation we have published our Strategic Options Backcheck and Review (SOBR), which reviews the work we undertook in 2022, in light of any changed circumstances since then. The SOBR concludes that the onshore option is currently preferred when compared to an offshore option and sets out the reasoning behind that. This is a document that will continue to be updated when relevant new or updated information comes to light.  

We are aware of the ESO report from November 2020 which examined high-level options to minimise new connections for offshore generation onto the GB transmission network. This report does not identify specific projects, and specifically states it is based on hypothetical scenarios. This work was overtaken by the Government’s Offshore Transmission Network Review.

Subsequently, in January 2021, the ESO published a new Network Options Assessment (NOA) which identified the two parts of Norwich to Tilbury (previously known as East Anglia GREEN) as essential investments - (NOA codes - AENC and ATNC). 

The January 2022 NOA gave both AENC and ATNC a ‘proceed’ status. The NOA refresh in July 2022, part of the ESO’s Holistic Network Design (HND), again gave proceed status to AENC and ATNC. 

The costs we have assessed for Norwich to Tilbury are for these two specific projects, and are not comparable to the high-level assessments set out in the ESO 2020 report. 

We are confident that the processes that we follow to identify and then assess potential strategic options are robust and the most appropriate for new transmission investment projects such as Norwich to Tilbury. 

Our assessments have been tested through numerous previous projects, the formal examination process and ultimately decided by the relevant Secretary of State. 

The OCSS will provide grant funding to projects to explore potential coordination options for offshore transmission infrastructure, whilst, at the same time,  progressing existing connection proposals.

We are aware that the two windfarms which would connect into the new East Anglia Connection node substation have applied. If they are successful in securing funding, they will need to undertake further technical work to assess if coordination is feasible. 

In the meantime, we need to continue with our work to ensure we can meet our programme and government targets. We regularly review and backcheck our proposals and will continue to do so following the outcomes of the OCSS. 

The Electricity Systems Operator (ESO) recently announced that it would launch a ‘Study’ to assess objectively the options for Norwich to Tilbury and other proposed network reinforcements across East Anglia following the outcome of the OCSS awards. 

We understand the Study will take a fresh look at the drivers for the network reinforcements in East Anglia, alongside the various considerations that need to be taken into account. These include the requirement for us to develop proposals which represent value for money to consumers, while being in line with current planning policy, environmental legislation and our licence obligations. 

Our consultation is not pre-empting the outcome of the ESO Study. But continuing to progress the project in parallel to the Study is both necessary and important to meet the ambitious programme deadlines which enables new generation to be connected by the end of this decade, that is in line with the Government’s commitment to connect 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030. 

If the recommendations from the ESO Study should indicate alternative infrastructure options, we will review and engage with the impacted communities appropriately. However, to delay development of the proposed option in the meantime would prematurely jeopardise the optimum 2030 delivery date, regardless of the outcome of the Study. 

No. We still need to build a new network reinforcement to connect other new offshore wind and new generation in the area.

These projects take many years to develop and there are often changes to the amount of generation needing to connect. A full list of contracted generation connecting into the region can be found in the SOBR. 

Any confirmed changes to connection contracts are factored into our back check and review process. 

We have published a preferred draft alignment.

It shows potential positions for pylons and underground cables. It also shows where we have changed the proposed route from last year.

We want to hear your views on this and explain the decisions we have made so far.

We are still at an early stage of the project and there will be other opportunities to comment.

We take everyone’s comments very seriously and we want to hear what matters to you.

We want to work closely with communities to make sure that we’re balancing the needs of those hosting this infrastructure, with the need to deliver lower bills, more secure energy and more clean energy for everyone.

All feedback we receive will be presented and responded to as part of a Consultation Report that we will submit with our application for consent.

We have published a detailed feedback report summarising the feedback and themes received during our 2022 consultation and explaining how it has influenced our proposals.

You can give us your feedback in a number of ways:

• online using our online feedback form
• complete a paper feedback form and hand it in at a public event or post it back via freepost or email
• by email
• or telephone us if any of the above ways are not suitable for you.

This is an additional non-statutory consultation on our preferred draft alignment, which takes into account feedback received in spring 2022.

We wanted to share our progress at the earliest opportunity and give you an opportunity to comment on our emerging proposals.

We expect to hold our statutory consultation in 2024.

UK law does not prescribe any minimum distance between overhead equipment and properties. However, National Grid’s approach to routeing new overhead infrastructure is to try to avoid communities and individual properties as much as possible and maximise the distance between proposed new overhead infrastructure and properties.

National Grid will always ensure minimum electrical distances from overhead equipment.

House values depend on a number of different factors – it is difficult to single out any one factor that will affect house prices.

We do recognise that the visual impact of any new overhead infrastructure is likely to be a significant issue for many local communities, so we always try to avoid communities and individual properties as much as possible.

If anyone has specific concerns, we encourage you to contact us to talk about these.

We recognise that the visual impact of any new overhead infrastructure is likely to be a significant issue for many local communities, so we always try to avoid communities and individual properties as much as possible.

However, UK law does not require us to compensate for loss of view.

The Government has recently consulted on how local communities could benefit from the development of network infrastructure in their area.  We welcome this recognition of the importance of those communities and await the outcome of the consultation.

National Grid takes the issue of health very seriously and relies on authoritative and independent scientific organisations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), to review the worldwide body of scientific evidence on electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) and health, as well as reviewing the science ourselves.

We believe it is right that the decision on what is acceptable or not is made independently of industry. We ensure that all our assets comply with the guidelines set by Government on advice from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

A vast amount of research has been done into the possibility of health effects, without establishing any risks below these levels set by the guidelines

High-voltage underground cables produce magnetic fields in the same way that overhead infrastructure does, although the fields fall more quickly with distance as you move away from the cable. Directly above an underground cable there will often be a higher magnetic field than will be found under an equivalent overhead equipment.

Irrespective of the technology used, National Grid will always ensure that all its equipment is designed to comply with any appropriate safety standards i.e. the exposure limits advised by and adopted by Government.

All our equipment is designed to comply with any appropriate standards.

We will carry out a noise assessment which will identify areas where there could be the potential for significant noise effects during construction and what might be needed to mitigate it such as noise barriers to reduce noise during construction.

Further details will be set out within the Outline Construction Environmental Management Plan.

We will consider potential effects on local traffic and will provide information on this at our next consultation.

We will prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment which will consider traffic and transport effects of our defined proposals.

We will also prepare an Outline Construction Traffic Management Plan. This will set out the good practice measures proposed to further reduce impacts on the local road network and traffic. It will include measures providing clear signage to make sure our construction traffic uses the agreed routes and construction workers using public transport and car sharing where practicable.

Youth focused events have been restricted for safeguarding reasons. Our team take the issue of safeguarding very seriously and we are taking steps to ensure that everyone feels comfortable joining our events. Online sessions will be ‘by invitation only’ and our team will control who is provided access. Nobody will be required to show their face at any point during events, and participants can remain anonymous should they choose to. There will be a chat room for conversation throughout the webinar and a dedicated place to ask questions to panellists, both of which will be supervised by our moderators.