Power Technology

Daily Newsletter

09 August 2023

Daily Newsletter

SSEN selects preferred bidders for £10bn power network upgrade

The redevelopment will support the UK and Scottish governments' renewable energy and climate change targets for 2030.

SSEN Transmission has chosen preferred bidders to deliver critical elements for its £10bn ($12.6bn) Pathway to 2030 network investment plans.

The projects will bring major upgrades to the electricity transmission network across Great Britain.

The redevelopment will support the UK and Scottish governments' renewable energy and climate change targets for 2030. These include offshore wind targets of 50GW and 11GW, respectively.

The preferred bidders, chosen after a competitive procurement process, include Balfour Beatty, Burns & McDonnell, IQA, J Murphy & Sons, Linxon, Morrison Energy Services, NKT, Omexom Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, Siemens Energy BAM and Wood Power Solutions.

Each has been selected for its own speciality including overhead lines, underground cables and the substations needed for the redevelopment of the transmission network in the north of Scotland between 2023 and 2030.

The upgraded transmission infrastructure will help in securing the country’s energy independence in the future through the connection and transportation of locally produced low-carbon electricity, reducing reliance on price-sensitive and volatile wholesale energy markets.

SSEN Transmission managing director Rob McDonald stated: “Our Pathway to 2030 network redevelopment programme will play a huge role in delivering Scotland and the UK’s net-zero targets and the selection of this group of preferred bidders for crucial elements of the redevelopment work is a massive step forward in delivering that.

“As we aim to conclude contract negotiations in the coming weeks and months, we look forward to working with each of the selected contractors in the delivery of our 'Pathway to 2030' projects.”

Major projects included in the Pathway to 2030 include the 2GW subsea high-voltage direct current (HVDC) links between Peterhead and England. These will be developed through joint ventures with National Grid Electricity Transmission.

Two subsea HVDC links, one between Spittal in Caithness and Peterhead with 2GW capacity and the other between Arnish on the Western Isles and the north of Scotland's mainland with 1.8GW capacity, are also planned.

A new HVDC switching station at Peterhead will reduce the number of converter stations needed for future HVDC links, lowering costs and environmental impacts.

ESG 2.0 marks a shift towards stricter environmental rules

ESG is moving into a different era, which we call ESG 2.0. While ESG 1.0 was driven by voluntary corporate action, spurred by pressure from activist consumers and investors, ESG 2.0 is being driven by a new wave of government policies. The EU has taken the regulatory lead, with rules introduced or in the pipeline that will price emissions, regulate the use of the terms ‘ESG’ and ‘sustainability’ in marketing materials, and make ESG reporting mandatory. The US has taken a different approach, favoring less regulation and more financial support in the form of tax breaks for clean industry (renewables plus nuclear and hydrogen). China is planning to expand its emissions trading system to more sectors, decarbonize its heavy industry, and ramp up its use of renewables. The new policy direction is mainly motivated by the ambition to hit net zero emissions targets. But on top of this, governments are now competing for clean industry and trying to challenge China’s leadership on the production of the world’s green technologies such as solar panels and batteries, as well as the production and refinement of materials needed for energy transition such as lithium. These driving forces are leading to policy that will impact every sector, not just heavy industry, and will keep ESG near the top of the regulatory agenda over the longer term.