The proposals for North Humber to High Marnham will reinforce the electricity transmission network and help provide much-needed additional capacity between the North of England and the Midlands. As part of The Great Grid Upgrade, the project will help the country meet future energy demands.
The first-of-its-kind event in the UK, organised by National Grid’s Overhead Lines (OHL) team, invited innovation leaders from around the world to deliver live demonstrations of new technologies - focusing on the use of drones and robots as complementary tools for the industry’s skilled lineworkers.
Eastern Green Link 1 – a joint venture between SP Energy Networks and National Grid Electricity Transmission – will transport green electricity for two million homes along over 190km of predominantly undersea cable linking the south-east of Scotland with the north-east of England.
The £13.8 million Grid for Good Energy Affordability Fund will run for three years, with £3.5m per year donated to charities and organisations providing immediate financial relief to vulnerable households in the UK.
The remaining £3.3m will be targeted at similar organisations in the US.
The first £1.2 million of UK funding has been allocated to:
The multi-million-pound scheme is vital for the creation of a 40GWh factory at the 620-acre Gravity Smart Campus near Bridgwater that will create 4,000 highly skilled green tech jobs.
The production facility – run by Tata Group’s global battery business Agratas – is due to open in 2026 and aims to supply almost half of the batteries needed by the UK’s automotive industry by the early 2030s.
The work, which involves replacing essential fittings on pylons and refurbishing the structures’ steelwork, will take place from March to November 2025 across the 64.5km overhead line route (illustrated below).
The Lovedean to Bolney overhead line consists of 190 pylons carrying two circuits, one on either side of the structures. National Grid will refurbish both circuits, each being done separately to allow electricity to keep flowing when the power is isolated on one side. There will be no disruption to the supply of electricity during these works.
Preparing for a storm
The electricity transmission system is the physical system that we use to move electricity at high voltage across the country; we do a lot of meticulous preparation to guard against power cuts occurring at a national level, and to ensure that electricity continues to flow to reach the local electricity networks.
A 178 tonne supergrid transformer and specialist SF6-free technology arrived at National Grid’s new 400kV Bengeworth Road substation, which is being built by National Grid and construction partner Linxon as part of the £1 billion London Power Tunnels 2 project to reinforce the capital’s electricity network.
Contractors and partners including Murphys and Arup, along with Lee Valley Regional Park, attended NLR’s official launch day in October to kickstart the over 40km project that will see the reconductoring for overhead lines between Pelham and Hackney.
NLR is the first of 26 Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) projects to enter construction at National Grid. NLR will play a significant part in TGGU, which will strive to meet the UK Government’s plans to power all homes and businesses with green energy by 2030.
Our project team is currently using a Horizontal Directional Drill (HDD) to install ducting underneath the A361 rather than dig a trench across it, which would have required closing the road. This specialist equipment means we are able to keep the A361 open and minimise any long-term disruption to local traffic.