Northern Powergrid is starting the next phase of its £3.3 million investment to improve the reliability and resilience of the electricity network serving Skelton, Saltburn and Marske.
Starting on Monday 14 October 2019 and running until spring 2020, this phase sees the company invest further £1.6 million to improve the reliability of the electricity supply in Saltburn and Marske by replacing its existing assets with more modern equipment, including smart technology.
“This work is focused on replacing and modernising our existing network for our customers. It will provide some additional capacity and flexibility, so we have more options to keep the lights on for our customers”, Jon Eggleston, Northern Powergrid’s Regional Manager for Teesside, said.
“The work is a solid investment in the area. However, if there were to be any major new developments in the community in the future this would require those behind the schemes to apply and pay an Independent Connections Provider, or Northern Powergrid, for the additional capacity needed to meet their specific needs.”
Northern Powergrid is responsible for the electricity network that supplies 8 million customers across 3.9 million homes and businesses in the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.
Last year the electricity distributor successfully completed a £1.7 million programme of work to upgrade the network that supplies Skelton.
The reinforcement work to be carried out now includes upgrading 7.1km of underground cabling, dismantling 800m of overhead power lines and replacing four time-served pole-mounted substations with two more modern ground-mounted substations.
The company is also installing 14 remote control switches, which will provide greater flexibility to electricity around the network and restore power more quickly if there is a power cut in the future.
“We know how important a safe and reliable power network is in supporting the local community, businesses and visitors to the area, so this is an important next step in our investment programme for the area”, Mr Eggleston added.
“As with any construction, there will be some localised disruption while we carry out this important work, but we’re liaising closely with local residents and businesses as well as Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and local councillors so that we can keep them updated on how we’re delivering on our commitments.”
This work will help support ongoing investment into grid reinforcement which is important in light of Ofgem’s ongoing reviews into network access and charging.
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