Britain’s ‘Great Grid Upgrade’ is an absolute disaster

If someone gave you an old Blackberry in addition to your current mobile phone, would you think that was an upgrade? An upgrade should be something better, improved and enhanced.

Yet here we are in the midst of the “Great Grid Upgrade” with the technologies of yesteryear: “lattice” pylons, old-style conductors and open trenching as the default method.    

National Grid argues that it is cheaper to work in this way and to continue to pursue the methods used for the past 70 years. But in fact, there are many better modern solutions which could bring costs down.

New, super-lightweight and super-strong conductors are already being made and installed in America by a company that National Grid part-owns, called TS Conductor. They can transmit five to six times more power using existing infrastructure.

It would be obvious, one would think, to re-string our British network of overhead lines with this new technology before ripping out a single tree or hedgerow to build new ones.

When new pylons are required, these new, lightweight conductors mean fewer, and shorter, pylons are required. This brings down costs. Installing fewer pylons is also less damaging to communities, landscapes and nature.    

But we in the east of England have not been offered reconductoring with mega high-speed conductors, or new projects with fewer and shorter pylons. That is bad for us and bad for anyone who pays for electricity.

Then there’s the issue of “undergrounding”, where cables are buried. This is preferred by some as it has less of a visual impact on an area – in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, now known as National Landscapes, burying cables underground is the default method.  

However, it’s surprisingly harmful to the environment, and can be disastrous for natural habitats.

To create each trench, a swathe of countryside 120-metres wide must be carved up. As it is fashionable to compare things to football pitches, that is roughly the length of one pitch. Everything in this area is destroyed and tree growth is not allowed, because the cables must be replaced in 40 years time.

However, once again, there seems to be a better way – but it’s not being used. It is called cable ploughing. Instead of ripping through the countryside with a football pitch-wide scar, the conductors are ploughed into the ground. Simple, cheaper and less damaging.

And finally, for there to be a proper update to our Grid, it is imperative that an integrated offshore grid is created to provide for long-term growth of the offshore wind industry.  

There currently are around 18 wind farms and interconnectors in the North Sea seeking connection points in the UK. Instead of the pooling power offshore, National Grid offers each and every project a connection one by one.

Often the substation offered is far inland, which means the wind farm developer has to lay miles of sub-sea cables, then dig trenches across many more miles of countryside – such as from the north Norfolk coast to Norwich.

This is repeated each and every time. It is incomprehensible, when it is technically possible, and cheaper (according to the findings of three independent studies since 2011), to coordinate all that power. Doing so would reduce overall infrastructure by 50pc and result in fewer landfalls – ideally at brownfield sites.

In January, MP Dan Poulter asked experts at the Energy Security and Net Zero’s “Flexible Grid” Select Committee what they thought about an offshore grid. Their answer was that it is a simpler way of joining up offshore wind farms, as well as being cheaper and avoiding protracted and costly planning negotiations.

Amidst all of this arises a new challenger – Octopus Energy, which seeks to build its own pylons, using technology to map lines of least resistance. This, in my opinion, is great news.

National Grid could certainly do with a challenger but, while I am all for the use of sophisticated optioneering technology, let Octopus not forget that sometimes humans can help to provide solutions. Indeed, I am a member of the Linear Infrastructure Planning Panel which has spent the past year investigating how best to deliver transmission infrastructure.

Thankfully, Octopus chief, Greg Jackson, has recognised that there are many ways to skin a cat. His best bet would be to approach affected communities long before letting a computer decide what it thinks best. We all have positive solutions to offer and he will avoid battle lines forming.

With so many cheaper, better and faster solutions that really would lead to a great grid upgrade being ignored, it is clear that the system is broken. Consumers, communities and the environment all suffer.

When will Ofgem and the Government step in and insist on a grid fit for the 21st century?