National Grid innovation event showcases live working techniques
An event at National Grid’s Eakring training facility has showcased the possibility of reintroducing high-voltage live working in the UK for the first time in a generation.
The event was held to highlight the DEsign for Live Line Technology Acceleration (DELLTA) project, which aims to explore and develop methods to safely perform maintenance and repairs on high-voltage transmission networks without switching them off.
This includes live working on existing assets as well as taking it into consideration at the design and planning stage of new assets to enable maintenance to be carried out using live working techniques in the future.
While working on energised high-voltage equipment is already done as standard in certain countries, it would be a first in 25 years for the UK.
DELLTA is being led by National Grid Electricity Transmission in partnership with Frazer-Nash Consultancy and The University of Manchester, with the event marking the completion of the Alpha phase of the project which was funded by Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF).
More than 40 attendees from across the energy industry attended the event which saw a demonstration of a suspension insulator replacement, showcasing the equipment, tooling, techniques and safety procedures developed during the Alpha phase.
The activity was carried out on a dead overhead line tower, enabling a clear and detailed walkthrough of the live working methods and systems within a controlled environment.
This included overhead line workers utilising innovative equipment such as insulated rope systems and bespoke lifting solutions which have the potential to support the future implementation of live line working on the operational network.
It was discussed with the attendees that maintenance is currently done via outages (where the power is switched off) which can be costly and difficult to schedule, so live working has the opportunity to strengthen asset health and improve network resilience while reducing constraint costs.
They were also given an insight into the proposed three-year Beta phase of the project, which, if funded, would see the further development of methods of working, live testing, training development and feasibility studies to explore how it could be brought into everyday working.
The Alpha phase of the project was awarded £458,121 through Ofgem’s SIF, which is administered in partnership with Innovate UK and funds ambitious, innovative projects which aim to accelerate the decarbonisation of energy networks in the UK.
DELLTA is part of National Grid’s commitment to innovation, with other work including rolling out Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) technology which expands the capacity of existing power lines, and modernising overhead line inspections through the use of drones.
Prem Ranjan, Senior Innovation Engineer at National Grid, said:
“The event was a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate what we have achieved during the Alpha phase of the DELLTA project to industry stakeholders.
“The need to maintain transmission capacity is more critical than ever, but an outage can be challenging to schedule and costly.
“DELLTA is tackling this challenge head-on by exploring live working techniques for high voltage assets, both existing and those being built in the future, which could enable maintenance without taking circuits offline.
“Using innovative equipment and techniques, alongside the highest safety standards, live working could help to reduce circuit curtailment, improve network resilience and support the rapid pace of grid reinforcement.
“We now look forward to progressing the project further as we look towards the proposed Beta stage.”
Chris Land, Overhead Line Access and Technology Engineer at National Grid, added:
“As our organisational culture has evolved, reintroducing live working presents new challenges. By clearly demonstrating what we’ve achieved so far, we can evidence its safety, build stakeholder confidence, and embed live working as a business-as-usual practice.”
Steven Fletcher, of Frazer-Nash Consultancy, said:
“It’s been really encouraging to see the DELLTA Demonstration trial at Eakring and to witness, first-hand, what we’ve been discussing now being put into practice. Seeing the team operate in a real-world setting brings the concept to life and reinforces just how achievable this is at a wider scale. It’s exciting to be part of a project with such clear potential, and one that could have a truly significant impact on how network maintenance is delivered in the future.”
Vidyadhar Peesapati, of The University of Manchester, said:
“At a time when the electricity network is undergoing its most extensive transformation to accommodate decarbonisation and increased electrification, reliance on outages presents a growing challenge. The knowledge and capabilities developed through this project will support more efficient and timely infrastructure upgrades, contributing to the achievement of net-zero targets while maintaining the high levels of resilience and reliability required during this period of rapid system transformation.”