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What you need to know about the UK’s electricity grid upgrade
National World - LocalTV
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02/05/2025
Professor Keith Bell explains why upgrading Britain's electricity grid is essential for delivering cheaper, greener energy—and the tough choices involved
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00:00
Well, it's about enabling access to low carbon energy, in particular wind farms, so the best
00:06
locations for wind are where it's windy and where you can get the permission and the space
00:11
to build a wind farm, and these locations tend to be in the north of Britain or offshore,
00:17
and these are places where the existing transmission network capacity, well, offshore it doesn't
00:21
exist, and further north, you know, there's a limited capacity to get the power from north
00:27
to south, so there is a need to upgrade the transmission network and build new sections
00:32
of network in order to get access to this low carbon energy.
00:37
As Britain pushes forward with its largest grid upgrade in decades, the need for modern
00:42
infrastructure to handle renewable energy is more urgent than ever. I spoke to Professor
00:47
Keith Bell to find out what it will take to reshape our electricity grid and how we can
00:51
ensure it's fit for the future.
00:52
One of the things we could do is, or the network companies can do, is to have a clear
00:58
foresight of what they need to develop over a number of years. That needs some degree of
01:03
certainty, which links back to, you know, what is it they're looking for anyway? Is it overhead,
01:06
underground, subsea? And then to get contracts in place over a long period of time to be able
01:12
to kind of be sure that things will be delivered.
01:17
Underground cables and subsea links may look neater, but they come with a much higher price tag.
01:22
So how do you decide what's worth it?
01:24
There's got to be a clear consideration that the costs of the network to enable access to energy
01:29
are picked up in the end by bill payers. So, you know, we've had a cost of living crisis in the
01:35
last few years. You know, affordability of energy is really important. So it's important that we keep
01:40
those bills as low as possible. But on the other hand, you know, overhead line developments do have
01:49
an impact. You know, they're not popular, people don't like the look of them. Lots of objections
01:53
are lodged whenever applications are made to build some new line. Finding the right option is very
01:59
difficult. I mean, there are also kind of technical considerations as well.
02:02
While the grid upgrade is crucial for a greener future, not everyone is on board. Many local
02:07
communities are concerned about the visual impact of new infrastructure, especially overhead lines.
02:12
So how do we balance the need for progress with the concerns of those living nearby?
02:17
Yeah. Well, how do you resolve those tensions? I think it's probably going to be impossible
02:21
to satisfy all of the people all of the time. So I think the first thing is to have processes
02:27
in place that can give people confidence.
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