Three contracts together worth £300 million have been awarded by National Grid to supply major works for the Hinkley Seabank connection, a new transmission line needed to export power from Hinkley Point C.
The new 400kV connection will comprise 48.5km of overhead line and 10.7km of underground cable, 8.5km of which passes through the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The connection will go underground through the Mendip hills. In addition, National Grid will be removing 67km of overhead line owned by Western Power Distribution, including all pylons which currently cross the AONB and the company will also be using a new pylon design, known as the T pylon, for much of the route.
The contracts are with:
- Balfour Beatty, which will be building the new-design ‘T pylons’
- J Murphys and Sons, which will be installing 10.7km of underground 132kV cables from Nailsea to Portishead
- Siemens, which will be building a new substation at Sandford.
Sue Adam, Hinkley connection project director, said: “The awarding of these contracts marks a major step forward on this vital connection project. It means that we will now be able to gear up to start construction work in earnest.
… This will see lots of construction work going on at different times and in different places over the next eight years.”
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