The government says it will take on any ‘blockers’ standing in the way of its ‘green revolution’.
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But its plans for a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030 require a huge upgrade to the National Grid.
After all, there’s no use producing green energy if you can’t get it to homes and businesses.
But that means unpopular pylons. Lots of them.
And many miles of new cables.
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33 Comments
If only you put solar n new builds as standard! This would be a great help
Nimby ruining the benefit of the whole again. *sigh*
3:50 Riddle me this one Batman.
I'm confused. Was it time pressure in the edit or ~ and I struggle to believe this ~ was it poor joirnalism that stopped Alex Thompson the interviewer from asking this?
The question on all our lips when greeted by the frankly laughable beyond laughable response from John Pettigrew the Chief Executive no less, of National Grid that a cable tunnel wouldn't be enough and a Pylon transmission line would have to be built on top…
The question which should have been asked whilst trying to disguise the inevitable sniggering incredulity is
Why not build two tunnels?
Poor journalism, I'm afraid to say.
These NIMBYs are PAID a wayleave for pylons and the surface area they take up is tiny and acts as a wildlife haven because it cannot be cultivated. Everyone knows what a pylon looks like and we’ve lived with them for 60 years. Wake up, get off your high horse before you fall and hurt yourself. Burying cables is incredibly expensive and maintenance is much more difficult. If you want the green revolution (and possibly, one day, cheaper energy, although it never works like that) suck it up.
NIMBYs suck.
Stop rural farmers blocking progress! Otherwise it'll be like HS2 over 10 years to nowhere.
It’s not just Economics and Green power…. This is NATIONAL SECURITY ffs and sorry but no one cares about 2 pylons in middle of some potato field miles from anywhere.
4:00 ah, Rosie, serial NIMBY and liar trotting out nonsense as usual.
no to pylons?? then STOP using electricity 😒
I know UK isn't the best country for solar power, but incentivising home solar systems like Germany not only reduces the load on the grid, at times, it can also be helpful if the user is generating more than what they need.
I don’t have a horse in this race, but the national grid guy at the end was wrong, u can bury HV DC, its point to point though, no need to put pylons over the top, if u want more capacity, bury more conduits/ducts when u have the trench open, the conduits r the cheap part compared to the approvals, planning, cleaning tractors etc. National grid should s worried about $$$, that’s all. Underground is NEVER cheaper. Big boy pants on, build the pylons and keep the lights on. 😊
Hahaha brilliant 😂😂😂
So what there saying gonna bring bills down except they spending 30 billion so who's paying for that then
don't worry those pylons won't be there for long the folly of those Off shore wind turbines will be short lived fusion energy will make them obsolete plus when Donald Trump gets back in and the price of oil drops it will be impossible to justify the incredible maintenance and incredible cost of offshore wind turbines those pylons will be down in less than 15 years
stop saying the word landslide mandate labour got only 20% of the vote Starmer got less than Jeremy Corbin.. And Labour will be out of power never to return in living memory after they complete the dissolution the population of the UK…. Reform will be the party in next time and I don't think Labour will last 5 years not by a long way.. So unpopular within the 1st 2 months
Let them have their underground cables, so long as they're the ones to pay for it.
I’ve seen some people saying this isn’t necessary. It is because the national grid has to be below capacity as if someone takes through a cable or it breaks they can reroute it without relies on the grid having the capacity so we have to plan ahead. Also this is happening in central London because it has to be underground, then decide where the rural areas have it above or underground
We use more electricity each year that goes by. Burying cables would be a non starter. The fact of the matter is that we need more power lines above ground
Surely u mean get our bills up
When big infrastructure like this happens in France, 10% is added to the budget for compensation. Unsurprisingly, NIMBYs with a wad of "shut up" money in their pocket complain a lot less.
Never look toward germany when thinking about energy… Never look toward Germany in fact !
Actually, German government currently discusses to plan future HVDC projects overground again, because the underground construction is too expensive and too slow.
Unfortunately the piece did not explain why they can bury cables in Germany and not the UK.. was also quite jarring when it said the government has a very large mandate. (20pc is not a large number)
Need to put an end to this green nonsense and just stick with Diesel and maybe Hydrogen or Biofuel down the line.
Need to bring all mothballed coal power stations back online.
It would make sense to prioritize the installation of home solar panels by whatever means including subsidies because if the generation of electricity is located where it is consumed, ie homes and EVs then this not only reduces the need for pylons but is also more efficient as transmission of power over long distances is wasteful of energy.
This is what HS2 money should have gone on, uk wide tunnels, not only is it safer, but when repairs are needed it would cause less disruption.
ffs this is what i am talking about we should do here in germany for maybe 2 decades now, but no its too costly, no the states and federal government cant get on the same page, no it wont work because of ground water, no, the technology is not there yet (ofcause not if you dont try and invest), …
though why go back to the pylons, just make a huge industry out of doing such tunnels under all of the UK,
sure it will cost money, but again you will establish a huge industry that will benefit you.
There is nothing what lifts up future generations better than a solid infrastructure.
well done and good for you UK
I thought the pylon designs were being modernised anyway to make them look better. Like they’ve done in Somerset.
If everyone is willing to pay more for their electricity and have less reliable service, buried cables could be used rather than overhead wires.
The problem is that there is a waiting list several years long for the supply of underground cables. They are not the same type of cable as overhead ones, they are much more complicated and there is a lot of demand for them right now. Utilities are forced to use pylons because of the politically imposed short deadlines for converting to low-carbon power sources. I`m all for the conversion, but it needs to be done more gradually so that we can build higher quality infrastructure with fewer negative impacts. Rushing things through means you are stuck with bad infrastructure for the next 50 to 100 years.
of course the millionaire farmers want expensive tunnelling, don’t tell me its as easy and cheaper to bury a cable than it is to hang it on a pylon. Typical rich home countries mentality, not wanting to do their bit and getting their knickers in a twist over a pylon, really grow the f up and accept the money you get for the pylons.
High voltage DC has less losses in transmission so it a more efficient way to transmit power only thing is are system is AC so it would need additional costly converter stations if thay wanted to divert power elsewhere seems that lady just doesn't get the big picture when it comes to the network , reworking the power network would send your energy bill through the roof