National Grid has removed temporary scaffolding at Loxton cable sealing compound near the M5 between junctions 21 and 22. The scaffold was erected to create a sterile environment for specialist engineers to connect the new underground cables to the new line of T-pylons that will help carry low carbon energy to six million homes and businesses.
We are leaving this part of the Area of Outstanding Beauty free of pylons for the first time in 91 years
The project will see the pylons replaced with cables buried underground to significantly enhance the landscape and views as part of National Grid’s Visual Impact Provision (VIP) project*, which is a national programme to reduce the visual impact of existing high voltage power lines in protected areas across England and Wales.
The project is part of Central Bedfordshire Council’s initiative to support planned housing growth of around 3,000 homes to the east of the town. A traditional ‘breaking the ground’ event marked work starting on National Grid’s 400kV substation and UK Power Networks’ new grid substation, that will increase power capacity in Biggleswade and help the community move towards a low carbon economy.
“We’re working within a live substation around a number of existing services – it’s hugely complex so to be able ‘move around’ the substation virtually before going on site is a huge benefit. The model will improve the quality and safety works such as underground ducting, high voltage cable installation, scaffold erection and dismantling and termination works within the substation”, says Brendan Rowlands, Engineering Manager at J Murphy and Sons.
When the substation is fully energised in 2023, the new pylons and cables connected to the substation will take over the supply of electricity to Western-super-Mare.
The modifications will ensure local electricity supplies are maintained
These modifications allow National Grid to remove existing pylons around the substation, and the long line of 249 pylons between Bridgwater and Avonmouth by 2023.
The transformer will be transported on a very large specialist vehicle (58m in length, roughly equivalent to half a football pitch), travelling at a maximum speed of 20mph.
Leaving Tilbury Docks via A1089 at 7pm, the transporter will approach Littlebrook Substation by crossing the iconic Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. It is expected that the transformer will be delivered to Littlebrook Substation by approximately 9pm
Delivering the carbon-free electricity network of tomorrow means innovating today – and at National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) we’re working with industry to find new ways to tackle some of the biggest challenges in energy.
Those challenges aren’t in short supply. The growth in renewable generation, coupled with the electrification of heat and transport, demands more and more transmission network capacity. Moreover, global events have shifted political focus onto energy security, and how an affordable, greener grid can boost resilience.
National Grid is using lattice pylons in and around Avonmouth, rather than the T-pylon design seen elsewhere on the Hinkley Connection route because at 50 metres high, the lattice design provides the height required across the River Avon, and means National Grid can navigate the tighter turning angles that are needed on the route between the River Avon and Seabank substation.
The pylons will be capable of carrying high voltage energy, bringing the Hinkley Connection Project a step closer to connecting six million homes and businesses to low carbon energy from the South West.
The team completed the first phase of the Shurton line entries, including the construction of haul roads, pylon foundations, and lattice pylons earlier this year to connect to Shurton Substation which is now energised.
