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Ofgem has confirmed its minded-to decision to approve a major grid upgrade in Yorkshire that would increase transmission capacity across several network boundaries in the north of England.
The decision follows a final needs case assessment for the £298 million Yorkshire Green project which National Grid Electricity Transmission is currently seeking funding for through the Large Onshore Transmission Investment (LOTI) re-opener mechanism.
The project includes the installation of a new 400kV substation extension at Monk Fryton, a new 275kV substation at Overton, and 6.4km of overhead lines – 2.8km at 400kV and 3.6km at 275kV – to connect existing overhead lines to the new Overton substation.
The upgrade would increase network capacity across the B7a and B8 boundaries by 1.7GW and 394MW respectively, enabling more electricity to be transmitted from proposed renewable generation projects in Scotland and the North Sea down to demand centres in the south of England.
It would also maximise the benefits of the proposed 2GW subsea Eastern HVDC link from Torness in Scotland to Hawthorn Pit in England.
National Grid at one point estimated the cost of the Yorkshire Green project at £392 million but has reduced this figure down to £298 million following design changes.
If the project continued to be progressed through the LOTI mechanism, the next stage would be project assessment as part of which Ofgem would set a Project Delivery Charge for late delivery. It would also be assessed for its suitability for delivery through one of the late competition models.
However, the Yorkshire Green grid upgrade (OPN2) is one of 26 projects which Ofgem identified as suitable to be brought under the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework it announced in December.
The new framework is intended to accelerate the delivery of strategic onshore transmission network projects considered necessary to achieve the government’s target of deploying 50GW of offshore wind by 2050.
As such, projects covered by the framework will not be considered for late competition and will instead be delivered by the incumbent transmission owners. They will also be subject to output delivery incentives that reward/penalise transmission owners for their performance against target delivery dates.
As part of its final needs case assessment, Ofgem said it remains satisfied that the Yorkshire Green project should be transferred to the ASTI framework, in which case the next stage of progression will be an ASTI project assessment. The regulator said National Grid expects to secure consents for the project by February 2024.
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