Bringing offshore wind energy to the UK’s homes and businesses will deliver long-term benefits for all, says Liam Walker, project director for National Grid.
The government has set a target to increase the energy from offshore wind to 50 gigawatts (GW) – and deliver 18GW of electricity interconnector capacity – by 2030. Once delivered, this will generate enough electricity to power every home in the country with cleaner, more affordable energy.
Several wind farms are already in operation or construction off the coast of East Anglia. By the end of the decade, we could see as much as 18GW of new, cleaner electricity – enough to power around 18 million homes – connected into the East Anglian network alone.
Ensuring this energy can reach the homes and businesses that need it does however require a significant amount of improvement to the country’s onshore electricity infrastructure, much of which was originally built to meet a significantly lower demand.
The existing network in East Anglia, for instance, was developed in the 1960s. Though it has been successful in meeting demand to date, achieving government targets for renewable and low-carbon energy will require the largest overhaul of the electricity grid in a generation.
To successfully help lower energy bills for households across the UK and ensure our energy is more self-sufficient, we will need to build five times more electricity transmission infrastructure over the next seven years than we have built in the last three decades.
If we get this right, it will also fuel a green jobs boom across the UK, supporting up to 130,000 jobs and adding an estimated £4-11bn (GVA) to Britain’s economy by 2030.
What is happening in East Anglia?
Before we look at building any new infrastructure, we always first fully consider the options to reinforce the existing electricity network to enable us to place more power down these cables.
We are carrying out work to reinforce and upgrade the existing network in East Anglia, including increasing the voltage on an existing line, rewiring where we can and installing new devices to control power flow. However, even with these upgrades, the network will not be sufficient for the amount of new electricity connecting to it.
As such, we are developing proposals for a new overhead electricity line between existing substations in Norwich (Norfolk), Bramford (Suffolk) and Tilbury (Essex), as well as a new substation in Tendring (Essex) to connect to new offshore wind generation and an interconnector.
Norwich to Tilbury is a key part of The Great Grid Upgrade – our wider investment programme to upgrade our electricity transmission network in East Anglia to meet the government’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050.
The proposed new infrastructure will be able to transport 6GW – enough to power six million homes in East Anglia and across the country – helping to reduce the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels and in turn the cost of energy for consumers.
Overhead electricity lines can also be a better solution for the environment than underground cables, dependent on the landscape, and we aim to increase biodiversity net gain by at least 10% in areas affected by our development projects.
Putting communities first
We understand there are concerns in the community, and we have listened carefully to a range of views and alternative proposals, including connecting offshore wind generation to Tilbury through undersea cables.
The option for a subsea connection has been very carefully considered, and we believe our proposals – at around a quarter of the £4bn cost and three times the capacity of a single undersea connection – represent the best value to electricity customers across the UK.
We always strive to be a careful and considerate partner in the areas where we undertake work, and we also go a step further, aiming to have a lasting positive impact on communities to help them thrive and enjoy a sustainable future.
For example, in Hinkley, Somerset, where we have recently energised a section of new overhead line to connect low-carbon energy, we have already planted nearly 5,000 trees, 174,000 sq. m of woodland and more than 20,000m of hedgerow, as we aim for a net gain in biodiversity.
Since construction began on the Hinkley Connection Project in 2018, £1.4 million from National Grid’s Community Grant Programme has been granted to 85 different local community initiatives in areas impacted through work, providing a range of social, economic and environmental benefits.
Suffice to say, we will look to provide similar tailored support to communities between Norwich and Tilbury.
For more information, please visit nationalgrid.com/electricity-transmission/network-and-infrastructure/infrastructure-projects/norwich-to-tilbury
This article is part of LOCALiQ's Clean & Green campaign, which aims to promote our region as the biggest in the UK and Europe for all forms of renewable energy.
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