National Grid: Nearly £60bn energy grid upgrade needed to hit green target

Nearly £60bn is needed to build the British energy grid of the future in order to meet climate change mitigation milestones in just over 10 years, according to the National Grid.

The British electricity network needs £58bn in investment to meet 2035 decarbonising targets, National Grid said.

New cables need to be built to bring electricity from renewable generating sources, such as offshore wind farms, to the places where that electricity is needed, such as cities.

Funds are required to allow new sources of power, such as solar farms, to be connected to the grid and transported across the country, the electricity systems operator (ESO) said.

The system had been designed around the old sources of electricity, such as coal fields.

Under the proposed green energy plan, far more offshore wind power would be pumped into the energy mix that powers homes and businesses.

Roughly five times more electricity will come from Scottish offshore by 2035 than will be used in Scotland during peak times, the Beyond 2030 report from the ESO said.

In the process of expanding grid capacity, 20,000 jobs could be created and 90% of them would be outside London and the southeast, the report added.

The plans, however, are said to be in the early stages – with planning permission yet to be sought and community consultation yet to take place.

National Grid is the London Stock Exchange-listed company that owns and runs the electricity network. The company also owns and operates infrastructure in the United States.

However, the government will take the electricity systems operator portion into state ownership later this year.

As well as changing types and locations of electricity generation, a beefed-up grid is needed to deal with more power use.

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As economies decarbonise more systems that run on electricity, such as transport and heating, a bigger electricity network is required to ramp up supply.

British electricity demand is expected to rise 64% by 2035 and could double by 2050, according to the report.

To meet the 2035 deadline to decarbonise the power system, action must be “swift and coordinated”, it added.

Grid upgrades are funded by the government, energy project developers and bill payers.