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The world’s first T-shaped electricity pylon has been erected in Somerset as part of National Grid’s £900M Hinkley Point C connection project.
Built by Balfour Beatty, it is the first new pylon design to be implemented in Britain for nearly a century.
In total, 116 new T-pylons will be erected in Somerset along a 57km route, connecting 6M homes and businesses to low carbon energy generated at Hinkley Point C’s nuclear power station.
The T-design pylon stands 35m tall and is around a third shorter than traditional high-voltage pylon design with a smaller ground footprint.
The T-pylons have a single pole and T-shaped cross arms which hold the wires in a diamond ‘earring’ shape.
They will run between Bridgwater and Portbury, other than through the Mendip Hills AONB where the new connection goes underground. The project also includes the removal of 249 electricity pylons between Bridgwater and Avonmouth.
The new pylon design was selected from over 250 designs entered into an international competition run in 2011, organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects and government (the then Department of Energy and Climate Change).
T-pylons form part of a suite of technologies used by National Grid to mitigate the impact of electricity infrastructure, including alternative lattice pylon designs and different types of underground and subsea cable systems.
Construction of the first 48 T-pylons by Balfour Beatty on behalf of National Grid began last week near East Huntspill, with each pylon taking roughly five days to build. Construction of the remaining 68 pylons, north of Sandford will begin in 2022.
Balfour Beatty managing director for its Rail and Utilities business Matt Steele said: “Our unique capability and extensive experience in delivering major, complex overhead line schemes, makes us ideally positioned to play a key role in constructing the world’s first T-pylons.
“We look forward to working with National Grid to successfully and safely deliver low-carbon electricity to millions of people, supporting the UK’s net zero ambitions.”
National Grid Electricity Transmission acting president Chris Bennett added: “We are always looking for innovative new ways to mitigate the impact of our infrastructure on the natural environment and projects such as T-pylons are a great example.
“This new design forms part of our significant investment in the network in England and Wales, adding capacity onto the grid to deliver increasing amounts of low carbon energy and support the UK’s drive towards its net zero target."
The Hinkley Connection project will be ready to connect to Hinkley Point C by the end of 2024, with the project complete at the end of 2025.
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It does not take five days to build as is quoted here. The Danish tower design is designed for a monopile foundation solution that could take 5 days to install. It is an impractical solution for the Somerset Levels with its poor soils. The existing towers with their wide base work efficiently by minimising foundation demands regardless of ground conditions These new towers have a single massive piled reinforced foundation under them that the contractor spent many weeks constructing.
There is little in the way of sustainability. Where each of the old towers stood alone in a field with a pile under each leg each one of these new towers needs an access road and large apron to permit the use of a cherry picker for maintenance of the tower. Each tower site has been subject to extensive enabling works including construction of permanent access roads/tracks, highway entrances that will need all to be maintained in the future.
The statement “The T-design pylon stands 35m tall and is around a third shorter than traditional high-voltage pylon design with a smaller ground footprint.” is misleading with regard to footprint as the area of farmland permanently destroyed by the adoption of this design with its permanent access roads and service apron is many times greater than the land take of the existing towers. Pictures in the NCE regarding show this statement not be true.