National Grid has announced that it has successfully secured a Development Consent Order (DCO) from the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero for a project to reinforce transmission grid infrastructure in the East of England.
The Bramford to Twinstead Reinforcement project will remove 27km of overhead cabling between the Bramford substation in Suffolk and Twinstead Tee in Essex and replace it with a combination of new overhead lines and underground cables. These upgrades will help to remove a capacity bottleneck in the east of England’s transmission network and allow for more renewable energy projects to be connected to the grid.
The upgrade project has been in planning since 2021, with three rounds of public consultation taking place throughout the approval process. According to National Grid, pre-construction survey work for the project has already begun, with main construction activity expected to begin in the first half of next year. The Bramford to Twinstead upgrade is estimated to cost around £700 million to complete.
Commenting on the decision to approve National Grid’s application, project director James Greenhalgh said: “We are delighted that the Secretary of State has granted our application for development consent in line with the recommendation by the Planning Inspectorate. The Bramford to Twinstead Reinforcement is a vital project to address an existing constraint on the network that will help connect clean and low carbon energy to homes and businesses across the UK.”
The Great Grid Upgrade
The Bramford to Twinstead Reinforcement project is one of 17 proposed projects across the UK seeking to grow or reinforce the nation’s grid infrastructure to support the growth of renewable energy, in what National Grid has dubbed the Great Grid Upgrade.
Among these projects are four different stages of the Eastern Green Link, high-voltage electricity transmission between Scotland and England. Eastern Green Link 1 received a provisional budget of £2 billion from the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem in March of this year, while the 2GW Eastern Green Link 2, which will connect Aberdeenshire and North Yorkshire, was recently approved for a £3.4 billion funding package.
Meanwhile, the Yorkshire Green project, which will upgrade the high-voltage power network around York, was granted a DCO in March, while the Norwich to Tilbury upgrade project is awaiting approval following an extension of the consultation period over the summer.
In order to efficiently facilitate these grid upgrade projects, National Grid launched the Great Grid Partnership in May 2024. The Great Grid Partnership brings together seven supply chain partners, including design firms and construction companies, to address skills shortages and supply chain issues that are currently slowing down the pace of grid upgrades. The partnership will focus on delivering nine Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) projects across England and Wales, primarily focusing on network design and construction work.
Outside of the 17 Great Grid Upgrade projects, National Grid has committed to investing £60 billion into network and grid upgrades over the next five years, on both sides of the Atlantic. Around £30 billion will be invested in the UK by 2029, while £28 billion will be invested in the northeast of the US.
