T-pylons on Hinkley Connection Project erected
116 world-first T-pylons have been completed as part of the Hinkley Connection Project.
Image for illustration purposes.
UK, Hinkley: 116 world-first T-pylons have been completed as part of the Hinkley Connection Project.
National Grid’s Hinkley Connection Project has seen the successful completion of all 116 of its new T-pylons, which will connect 6 M homes and businesses in the South West to home grown, low-carbon energy.
The last of the T-structures’ 232 diamond-shaped insulators – which hold the high-voltage conductors in a diamond ‘earring’ shape – was recently lifted by crane into place on a T-pylon between Yatton and Kenn in North Somerset by National Grid and principal contractor Balfour Beatty.
They are 35 m high, a third shorter than National Grid’s traditional lattice transmission pylons, take up less room on the land, and are quicker to erect.
36 T-pylons between Woolavington and Loxton were energised in early 2023, meaning high voltage electricity is running along the new T-pylons.
All the T-pylons will be energised by the end of 2024. Before then, conductors will be hung from the T-pylons, and the last of 249 traditional lattice pylons and 67 km of overhead wires will be removed from the landscape to make way for the new electricity connection.
Roxane Fisher-Redel, Senior Project Manager for National Grid on the Hinkley Connection Project, said: “National Grid’s T-pylons are the first new design for overhead electricity lines in over a century and will play a central role in connecting low-carbon energy to millions of people when Hinkley Point C begins generation.
“Erecting all the 116 T-pylon structures is a huge milestone and now we look ahead to 2025 and full completion of this project, which will play such a key role in transmitting cleaner, homegrown energy around the UK – enough to power six million homes and businesses.”
Source: National Grid