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Several companies across the sector have announced major projects they are working on.
They include a multi-million defence project and network resilience programmes.
Here is Utility Week’s project roundup.
UK Power Networks (UKPN)
UKPN has completed work to deliver a 15MW supply at an RAF base in Suffolk four months ahead of schedule.
The increased power supply is equivalent to the energy used to power more than 5,000 homes.
UKPN’s work has included installation of a 24km cable route across a railway, river and roads.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN)
SSEN has announced a £2.4 million switchgear investment programme to boost network resilience.
As part of the investment, the distribution network operator (DNO) is upgrading and replacing 11kV switchgear at four of its substations in the south of England.
The substations are at Five Oaks in Horsham, Argyle Road in Bognor Regis, and Herriard and Basingstoke, both in Hampshire.
Work began in March 2019. The network upgrades are due to be completed by February 2020.
Western Power Distribution (WPD)
WPD has completed a £200,000 project to electrify rail services between Newport and Cardiff.
A total of 1.2km of 11kV underground cable has been laid at St Brides to feed a new primary substation owned and constructed by Network Rail.
WPD technician Paul Keenan said: “Like all our primary substations it is fitted with a battery charger unit which provides a low voltage supply to provide back-up in case of power failure.
“We also used specialist contractors to enable us to tunnel nine metres under a ravine to bring our 11kV cable into place. It was quite a challenging operation because the ground was mostly marshland and so quite unstable at times.”
Northumberland County Council
Members of Northumberland County Council are due to meet next week to discuss plans to build a solar car port worth around £3 million.
The council’s cabinet will vote on 6 August on proposals to install a 0.8MW array of solar panels over its county hall car park.
According to the cabinet report, the solar car port would also have a 0.4MW battery with a storage capacity of 1.26MWh to save excess energy for when it is needed.
Ofgem innovation funding
Several companies have been awarded £2.76 million in total for the successful delivery of five innovation projects.
Two of the projects secured funding through the Network Innovation Competition, whilst the remaining three were supported by the now discontinued Low Carbon Networks Fund.
Both schemes require network companies to initially contribute at least 10 per cent towards the costs of their projects. However, they can later apply to Ofgem to recoup this money as a reward for success.
You can read more about these projects here.
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