Connections: what we’ve delivered in 2024
We've completed connection works for almost 3GW of energy projects this year
From our first grid park to the UK’s largest transmission-connected battery, we’ve plugged in nearly 3GW of energy projects to our network during 2024.
2024 was a year of progress. Reform of the connections process moved ahead, and our engineering teams at National Grid Electricity Transmission pushed on with the hard work of plugging in the energy projects that will help Britain decarbonise.
As the transmission owner in England and Wales, this means we’ve been reinforcing and upgrading our high voltage substations, often with innovative new connection solutions. Read on for our 2024 highlights.
Plugging in our first grid park
We energised our first grid park in England and Wales, introducing a new and innovative way for renewable energy schemes to connect. The concept allows three projects to plug in to our transmission network at the same point, saving time and money.
At our new grid park adjoining our Sundon 400kV substation in Bedfordshire (pictured above) we’ve already connected a 52MW battery developed by EDF Renewables UK, and have bays ready for two further projects to connect.
Solar and storage in the south west
Following upgrades to our Iron Acton 400kV substation near Bristol last year to plug in the UK’s first transmission-connected solar farm, we continued our work with Larks Green developers Cero Generation and Enso Energy to connect their additional 50MW battery via a high voltage cable – making it the first co-located solar and storage project on our network in England and Wales.
A new interconnector with Ireland
Our south Wales teams completed connection work in our Pembroke 400kV substation to make the site ready for the energisation in the new year of Greenlink, a new 500MW interconnector between the UK and Ireland. With the existing substation built in the sixties, our engineers had to think outside the box to accommodate a modern design of circuit bay, installing a hybrid gas insulated switchgear (GIS) bay to enable the connection.
Biggest battery connected in Yorkshire
We upgraded our Drax substation site in Yorkshire – which already hosts the connection for Britain’s biggest biomass plant – to accommodate another largest-of-its-kind technology. TagEnergy’s 100MW battery is now connected to our network, storing and releasing green energy to power homes and businesses and also helping to relieve any system constraints.
Back to Beck for Dogger Bank
Last year we upgraded our Creyke Beck 400kV substation in Yorkshire to connect SSE Renewables’ 1.2GW Dogger Bank A – the first phase of the world’s largest offshore wind farm – enabling it to produce power for the first time. In 2024 our engineers continued reinforcing the substation, completing connection works and energising a bay in readiness for the second 1.2GW phase of the wind farm – Dogger Bank B – to export power.
Connecting solar in Cambridgeshire
In May we connected the second solar farm in as many years to our Burwell 400kV substation near Cambridge, making the region among the highest generators of solar power at transmission level. Our engineers plugged in Octopus’s Breach Solar Farm, whose clean electricity now flows into the grid at Burwell along with an EDF Renewables UK solar project we connected last year.
Reinforcing the rail network
It’s not only generation projects that we connect – we also plug in demand schemes that draw power from our network. One such initiative is our Bramley Network Rail Connection project in Hampshire, which saw us upgrade our Bramley 400kV substation, and build and energise a new 25kV trackside feeder station which will support Network Rail to reinforce, futureproof and decarbonise its electrical network.
Batteries, batteries and more batteries
Our engineering teams across England and Wales have completed connection works for over half a gigawatt of battery energy storage systems during 2024, including those already mentioned. Further projects include 57MW batteries we’ve connected at our Capenhurst, Bramford, Monk Fryston, Ocker Hill and Warley substations – all of which will be able to provide vital flexibility, absorbing and deploying clean power to help balance the grid.
More to come in 2025
We expect to connect more projects throughout 2025 – including another major offshore wind farm at our Lackenby substation. It follows 3GW of clean energy connections delivered last year, and around 12GW of capacity over the past five years – all helping Britain towards its net zero goals.
Is your connections project already in development?
Find out more about our connections processes, including information on siting studies.
