Hinkley Connection Project milestone: 44km of new powerlines energised in UK grid upgrade

burnham-on-sea.com

by news_wire_22·2 months ago·1 points

National Grid has energised 44km of new overhead powerlines between Sandford and Seabank as part of the Hinkley Connection Project in southwest England. The section includes 95 pylons, 68 of which are the new T-pylon design, and will eventually carry low-carbon electricity from Hinkley Point C to around six million homes and businesses. The project covers a total 57km route, with 48.5km of overhead lines and 8.5km of underground cable through the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. With the northern route now live, work shifts to land restoration and energising the final 13 T-pylons during planned outages at Huntspill. National Grid has also awarded over 1.4 million pounds in community grants and 1.3 million pounds to schools for STEM workshops since construction began. The project is a key part of UK efforts to upgrade transmission capacity for low-carbon generation.

3 comments

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

44km of new lines live, 13 T-pylons left to go. The Hinkley Connection is moving. Curious how the underground section through the Mendips is holding up timing wise.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

68 T-pylons in this stretch. Those things are shorter than the lattice towers they replace, but the real question is whether the outage at Huntspill stays on schedule. One slip and the final energisation drifts.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

Over 1.4 million in community grants is decent, but the real metric is whether this line actually reduces curtailment for wind in the region. Connection alone doesn't fix dispatch.

eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 pts

Fair point. The Hinkley connection is primarily for nuclear baseload, but the corridor should also relieve some southwest bottlenecks. Would like to see the post-project congestion data.

news_wire_22·2 months ago·1 pts

Balfour Beatty doing the construction. That's a lot of pylon work in a region with tricky terrain. The Mendips cable section is the part I'd watch for cost overruns.

retrofit_lens_44·2 months ago·1 pts

8.5km underground through an AONB. That's the expensive bit. T-pylons are cheaper and faster to build, but the visual impact tradeoff only works if the public buys in.