Breaking Ground: SSEN £32m works; WPD V2G trial and more projects

This week has seen a number of companies announce either the commencement or completion of multi-million projects.

Scottish Water has just opened a new water treatment works while Western Power Distribution has announced it is undertaking a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) trial.

Utility Week takes a look at some of the projects that have been announced across the sector this week.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN)

SSEN has announced the completion of a £32 million works programme across parts of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset.

The works included the replacement of poles, conductors and plant such as substations and underground link boxes. Meanwhile automation systems have been placed on the network and some sections of overhead line have been placed underground in a bid to improve the resilience of the power supply to homes and businesses across the region.

Five of the key projects benefitting from the £32 million investment are:

• £7.5 million in refurbishing the 132kV overhead lines between Axminster and Yeovil
• £5 million in reinforcing the 33kV infrastructure across Velmore, Bishopstoke and Netley Common
• £4.3 million in refurbishing the 132 kV overhead lines between Poole and Winfrith Heath
• £3.8 million in rebuilding the 33kV overhead line towers between Chickerell and Winterbourne Abbass
• £2.8 million in reinforcing the 33kV network between Redhill and Victoria Park though cable overlay.

Berkshire village benefits from SSEN’s £730,000 boost to improve power supplies

SSEN has also announced £730,000 worth of work to improve and strengthen the resilience of the electricity network serving a Berkshire village has been completed on time.

SSEN engineers carried out the improvement works at Yattendon over a 12-month period.

The work included renewing essential operating equipment, replacing poles and upgrading overhead lines to a 77 kilometre stretch of the area’s network infrastructure.

The programme of works follows on from previous upgrades undertaken on the local network in 2018 and completes the project to improve the security of supply to Yattendon and the surrounding villages.

The distribution network operator (DNO) also said that the works will enhance the infrastructure’s resilience for some 2,200 local residents and businesses.

EDF

A nuclear reactor at EDF-owned Hartlepool power station has been taken out of service for a planned £30 million maintenance programme.

The County Durham station provides 1185 MW to the grid.

The “extensive” work will take place over a nine-week period and will see inspections inside the reactor, as well as the installation of new equipment.

One of the biggest projects will be replacing a generator transformer which increases the voltage in the site’s electricity before it is sent to the grid.

Western Power Distribution (WPD)

WPD has launched a trial aimed to test the affect vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology has on the network.

Three Crowd Charge V2G units have been installed at homes in Derby, Taunton and Bristol where monitoring equipment will test for voltage fluctuation on the parts of the network the units are connected to.

Innovation and low carbon network engineer at WPD Ricky Duke said: “We have chosen the locations of the units very carefully.

“One is near a substation, one on an older part of the network and the third on a modern part.”

The findings of the trial are expected to be published this autumn.

Scottish Water

Scottish Water has opened a water treatment works (WTW) in Lochmaddy as part of a £15 million investment to provide a single improved water supply for communities across North Uist and Berneray.

The project was delivered in partnership with Ross-shire Engineering.

The whole plant was built and tested under factory conditions in Muir of Ord before being broken down into 16 modules. These were delivered and reassembled last year on a site which had been prepared for their arrival by locally-based civil engineering contractor MacInnes Brothers.

The water company claims Lochmaddy is the largest WTW that has been built in this way anywhere in the UK to date.

Scottish Water chief executive Douglas Millican said: “Scottish Water is committed to providing the same high standard of service to our customers for the same low price, no matter where they live in Scotland.

“Achieving that goal for our customers in the islands involves distinctive challenges – and some of those challenges apply just as much to the delivery of complex capital projects.  The whole Lochmaddy project team has more than risen to the challenges and the result is plain to see.

“We have a first-class new water treatment works which is regarded as an example by others from across the UK and beyond. The construction of the new works has been undertaken well, and with minimal impact on the local community.”