National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) has been awarded £875,000 for two projects that will help develop a secure net zero electricity network. Projects include development of a long-term strategy to remove electrical insulating gas SF6 from the network, and an initiative to introduce a new way to assess the resilience of the whole electricity system in Britain.

The proposals will help to meet targets for developing new homegrown sources of renewable energy in Wales over the next decade, including the Welsh government’s target of meeting the equivalent of 70% of Wales’s electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2030.

As a business regulated by the energy regulator Ofgem, National Grid Energy Transmission (NGET) has a legal obligation to connect new sources of energy generation to its transmission network when requested.

Our National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) business is responsible for building the electricity networks that will support a net zero economy for the UK by 2050. Our Environmental Action Plan 2021-2026, published in 2021, sets out our firm environmental targets for a five-year period and is our handbook to guide us in how we plan and manage our network in a responsible, environmentally sustainable way.


National Grid’s £1 billion London Power Tunnels (LPT) project has achieved a major milestone with its final tunnelling breakthrough at Eltham substation in Greenwich.

The last of the project’s massive tunnel boring machines (TBMs), named ‘Grace’, broke through on Saturday, having tunnelled over 11km eastwards from National Grid’s New Cross substation in Southwark.

The last of the project’s massive tunnel boring machines (TBMs), named ‘Grace’, broke through on Saturday, having tunnelled over 11km eastwards from National Grid’s New Cross substation in Southwark.

All 32.5km of the project’s underground route are now complete, with installation of 200km worth of high voltage cable – enough to stretch from London to Cardiff – already underway between substations at Wimbledon and Crayford.

As part of its plans, National Grid Electricity Transmission proposes to build a new cable tunnel underneath the Thames, which will deliver cleaner electricity to the area. This will require planning permission under the Town and Country Planning Act, in both Thurrock and Gravesham.

Two new ‘headhouses’ will also be built at either end of the tunnel at Gravesend and Tilbury.

The National Grid team also gave an interactive presentation to pupils about where our energy comes from today and where it will come from tomorrow. Marshmallows and spaghetti were an essential building block!

25 pupils between Year 2 and Year 6 learnt about the lifecycle of electricity and how it is safely generated and then delivered to their home and school. All children had the opportunity to take part and ask questions and participated with much enthusiasm and wonder.

Dismantling the large pylons was a feat of engineering: a 650T crane together with an extension piece, called a fly jib, was required just to reach the top of the 91-metre pylons.  The fly jib on its own is around 34m long and required a second crane to be on-site to connect it onto the 650T crane. This arrangement is over a 100m high, meaning the Civil Aviation Authority had to be contacted ahead of the works!

At National Grid we’re at the heart of the #CleanEnergy transition. As the transmission owner (TO) in England and Wales, we’re building and maintaining ‘sockets’ – the grid’s connection points for projects to plug into – and the ‘wires’ to move electricity from where it’s made to where it’s needed.

The connections conundrum

Rapid change in the energy landscape has transformed the type and volume of projects wanting to connect to our network.

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