In November I was lucky enough to attend COP26 on behalf of National Grid. It was billed as the "last-chance saloon" for world leaders to keep global temperature rises to no more than 1.5C above preindustrial levels.
Since 1948, the Watchfield Village Hall Trust has overseen the management and maintenance of the village hall for the benefit of local people. Drivers speeding on the local road network around the community hub pose a risk to the safety of residents and road users.
Decarbonizing an existing gas network with hydrogen
The Town of Hempstead’s existing hydrogen facility was developed in 2009 to provide locally produced green hydrogen for vehicles. This project was a national success in demonstrating decarbonized transportation.
In conjunction with the Town of Hempstead, we will now expand the project to blend hydrogen for heating homes and transportation at the same time.
Children are planting their very own Christmas legacy after National Grid donated almost 400 trees to mark the end of its latest phase of refurbishment work on a major overhead powerline that runs through Penwortham, near Preston.
A mixture of mature trees and seedling Christmas trees have been distributed to local schools, conservation organisations, a golf course and hospice.
On Monday 29 November, Hinkley Connection Project Director, James Goode and CSR Officer Jonathan Richardson joined the celebrations for the big switch on. Individuals nominated by local people for making a significant contribution to supporting the community did the honours and lit up the town.
The event, which attracted thousands of people, is run by local volunteers and is a highlight of the festive season in the area. Last year’s was sadly cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Following months of hard work, the project has reached a major milestone, as the engineering team have taken delivery of two new transformers.
The transformers arrived during November and were delivered via an access road off Kettering Road built to ensure construction traffic avoids the areas of Market Harborough and Braybrooke. Weighing an impressive 100 tonnes, they will now be installed at the substation over the coming months.
The change forms part of our ambition to reduce our SF6 emissions by 50% by 2030; by eliminating nearly 6 tonnes of SF6 emissions – the equivalent of taking more than 100,000 cars off the road – and removing all SF6 gas from electricity assets by 2050.
SF6 gas has been used extensively across the electrical industry as an insulating gas for switchgear for 50 years or more.
Sulphur hexafluoride or SF6 is a gas commonly used in the electrical industry to prevent short circuits and to keep the network safe and reliable. The transition to net zero means an increase in electricity generation and transmission assets.
National Grid was recognised for its actions to cut emissions, mitigate climate risks and develop a low-carbon economy, based on the data it reported through CDP’s 2021 climate change questionnaire.
The achievement follows commitments made by National Grid last year to reduce Scope3 greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions by 37.5% by 2034. National Grid’s science based target also make a commitment to reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG by 80% by 2030, 90% by 2040, and to net zero by 2050 from a 1990 baseline.