hector pearson, national grid, naaonb conference 2015

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National Grid, The VIP Project and AONBs

Hector PearsonHector Pearson

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At the centre of the industry

National Grid’s job is to connect people to the energy they use, safely. We are at the heart of one

of the greatest challenges facing our society—delivering clean energy

to support our world long into the future.

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Our UK Network

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High level facts and figures

Electricity Transmission:

7,200 km of 400kV & 275kV overhead line

1,400 km of underground cable

329 substations

Gas Transmission:

7,660 km of high pressure pipe

23 compressor stations

Gas Distribution:

Four networks - 131,000 km of gas distribution pipeline

National Grid Property:

Aim is to bring 645 sites of brownfield land back to beneficial use

New Joint venture with Berkeley Group – St.William – to make much of this happen.

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The Future Energy Challenge

80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050

Sustainability

Affordability

Security of supply

15% of all energy to come from renewable sources by 2020

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Our job: Creating the networks of the future

Radical change in generation mix

Manage dramatic reduction in fossil fuels and CO2 emissions

Connect new nuclear power plants

Connect to new offshore wind power – and handle intermittency

Adapt to new technologies for clean energy – e.g CCS, solar

Using the existing network - reinforce and increase capacity of overhead lines and underground cables

Improve our ability to import gas from all over the world

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2 new approaches: routeing new lines

New approach to routeing new electricity lines

A process rather than a policy

Early and meaningful engagement with stakeholders and communities to understand local considerations

Options Appraisal methods to be applied on a case-by-case basis – no preference for overhead or underground solutions

No inherent preference for either overhead or underground

Greater emphasis on mitigating visual impact – recognise that not all sites that are valued or important are in designated areas

2 new approaches: the new T-Pylon

Joe Turner | Consents Officer

New approach for existing lines

Visual Impact Provision

Background

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Under the new price controls, has agreed a provision of £500 million for electricity transmission owners to mitigate the visual impact of existing electricity infrastructure in nationally protected landscapes in Great Britain.

For the period 2013 – 2021

This provision can only be spent on existing lines through Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks

For this equates to 571km of Overhead Line, around 7% of our network

Our Policy & approach

Our Policy:

•Consulted on a draft policy from July – Sept 2013

•Policy approved in March 2014

•Set up an independently chaired Stakeholder Advisory Group to help National Grid set the priorities for spending the £500m

•Committed to substantial engagement with organisations and communities

•Decisions to be based on a set of Guiding Principles

Landscape and visual impact assessment

•Methodology developed for us by Prof. Carys Swanwick and approved by the Stakeholder Advisory Group

•Employed 2 landscape architect firms to assess & rank all 571km of our lines in AONBs & National Parks.

Guiding principles

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Result in greatest landscape enhancement benefits.

We will work with stakeholders to decide how to treat existing National Grid electricity infrastructure to bring the most benefit from the Visual Impact Provision.

Candidate schemes will be selected with reference to the Guiding Principles below.

result in greatest opportunities to conserve and enhance natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage whilst avoiding unacceptable environmental impacts

result in greatest opportunities to encourage public understanding and enjoyment of the protected landscapes, including positive socio-economic impacts;

Are technically feasible in context of the wider transmission system

Are economical and efficient

As these principles may sometimes conflict with one another and each scheme is likely to perform differently against them, we will need to carefully balance the choices we make, with the help of stakeholders, against the Guiding Principles.

The Stakeholder Advisory Group

Progress

Stakeholder Advisory Group:

•Has met 5 times

•Has approved the landscape & visual impact assessment methodology, and endorsed the results – published in Nov 2014

•Initiated & approved the Landscape Enhancement Initiative (£24m for locally derived small scale projects)

•Has considered the process they will use to make decisions at September meeting

Local stakeholders:

•Met groups of local ‘technical’ stakeholders in each of the short-listed areas

•Public drop-ins in the short-listed areas

VIP short-list: sections with the highest landscape and visual impact

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Designation Substations Tower numbers

Tamar ValleyLanduph

toLangage

004 - 0019

211 - 238200 - 210

Peak District (East) 156-164

170 - 177

195 - 210

Brecon Beacons (Gill)Pembroke

toWalham

181-199

Snowdonia (Gill)Pentir

toTrawsfynydd

014-032

High Weald (LUC)Dungeness

toNinfield

118 - 133

Dorset (LUC)Chickerell

toMannington

025 - 039

New Forest (LUC)Fawley

to Mannington

058 - 068

North Wessex DownsBramley

toMalksham

82 -104

Peak District (West) Stalybridgeto

Thorpe March

Dorset (LUC)Chickerell

toExeter

Widespread national coverage

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Process for major VIP schemes

1. Options appraisals being progressed for all short-listed areas

2. Options appraisals will be tested with local Stakeholder Reference Groups, and revised if necessary

3. Preferred options presented to SAG on 8-9 September

4. SAG to prioritise and order areas to progress to next stage

5. Prioritised areas progress as ‘normal’ projects – engineering feasibility studies, voluntary EIA, planning applications etc.

6. SAG to review progress, and bring forward ‘next on the list’ areas if projects fall away.

What next?

About The Landscape Enhancement Initiative

• The LEI is a grant scheme that forms part of VIP.

• LEI will fund local visual improvement schemes to reduce the visual impact of National Grid electricity transmission lines in AONBs and National Parks.

• This is in addition to the smaller number of major engineering schemes which will be progressed as part of the VIP project.

Who can apply?

What can be funded?

The process

Partnership approach

We are committed to working collaboratively

with Stakeholder Advisory Group members

With AONBs

With national parks

We are committed to transparency – engage, inform, explain

Together we need to manage expectations – what can be done and what can’t. Timely communication – when you need it.

National Grid needs to be sure spending is allowed by Ofgem

VIP will only work with your support!

www.nationalgrid.com/vip

Thank you

hector pearson, national grid, naaonb conference 2015

Environment

new approaches

new technologies

routeing new electricity

new price controls

new tpylon

capacity of overhead

new nuclear power plants

new offshore wind power