Between now and 2026 we’ll be working with our main contractor Balfour Beatty to install the underground cables and transform the skyline around Devizes by replacing 4.6km of overhead line and 13 pylons to the north of Devizes with underground cables. It’s a significant engineering challenge, but we will seek to minimise disruption wherever possible.

Archaeological surveys

Before we begin the main construction work on the project, there are a number of surveys and preparatory work we need to undertake.

The project will enhance the landscape in the stretch of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to the north of Devizes, as part of National Grid’s Visual Impact Provision (VIP) project to reduce the visual impact of existing high voltage power lines in protected areas across England and Wales. The overhead line due to be removed runs east from the west of the Roundway Hill and Covet, just north of Roundway to a field just north of the Kennet & Avon Canal close to the Bridge Inn on Horton Road.

The 82km upgrade of one its high-voltage overhead electricity lines, between Bramley in Hampshire and Melksham in Wiltshire, has been brought forward to help accelerate the connection of 175 clean energy projects to the grid.

The £90 million investment includes replacing conductors – the wires strung between the 229 transmission towers (known as pylons) on the route – with new cables which can operate at a higher temperature and therefore allow more power to pass through the transmission circuit.

Sea Link is needed to carry renewable and low carbon power from offshore wind, interconnectors and nuclear power to where it is needed. The proposals include a new, primarily offshore, 145 km cable connection from Pegwell Bay in Kent to a point on the Suffolk Coast between Aldeburgh and Thorpeness. Plans include the onshore infrastructure needed at either end, such as converter stations and substations, to connect the power onto the existing network so it can be transported to homes and businesses around the country.

EGL1 has reached another significant milestone in the development of a new subsea electricity superhighway by awarding the Prysmian Group a £750m contract to deliver the UK’s first 525kV HVDC electricity transmission cable. GE Vernova’s Grid Solutions business and MYTILINEOS Energy & Metals have also been awarded a £1bn contract to supply and construct two HVDC converter stations, one at each end of the link.

From Christmas lights to Christmas dinner, many British festive traditions wouldn’t be possible without electricity. To celebrate the critical role this incredible energy source plays in powering Christmas, National Grid has released 12 dazzling facts behind the festivities, from the cost of lighting a tree, to powering those new games consoles, and the number of people who’ll be working on Christmas day to keep the lights on.

Every month brought National Grid closer to completion of the project. Here's a summary of those highlights. 

January-February

Stringing works in Avonmouth - where the wires were installed onto the 27 new lattice pylons - was completed ahead of schedule.  We used a new method to install the wires, meaning less scaffold and less disruption to local businesses and roads.

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