REPORT
SEnine
London cable tunnels by John Webb
Plans
to bore a high voltage Although it is cheaper to transmit electricity under the river Thames at Dartford.
electricity cable deep via overhead cables, it is recognised
beneath hundreds of SE9 houses are that this is not an option in heavily built- National Grid’s plans involve building a
progressing, SEnine up and sensitive terminal behind the current EDF station
investigates.
Hurst to Eltham
e n v i r o n m e n t a l at Falconwood. The underground cables
• Informing the community Ongoing
areas. need service shafts every two or three
The cable, which
• Planning submission Early 2009
kilometres with an emplacement on top.
will cost around
• Start construction Mid 2009
Therefore, the
£200m, is designed
• Planned completion 2014
latest technological One suggested route would take the
to transmit power solution is to cable from Falconwood to a point
to central London and is part of a new bore three metre wide tunnels, cased in immediately behind Well Hall Pleasaunce
network across the capital. concrete, deep underground containing in Edith Nesbit Walk where a shaft would
cables carrying 400kv. The London be drilled. From there, it would go to
Blackheath and then on to central
London.
A spokesman for National Grid said
that was ‘currently addressing plans
to upgrade the electricity network
in London in order to meet future
demand. This involves looking at the
suitability of building a number of
tunnels to install the electricity cables
near Eltham’.
However, said the spokesman, the
works are still in the design phase
and there are no further details at this
moment in time.
SEnine understands that the cable will be Connection Ring is the most ambitious The company is currently preparing a
contained in a tunnel between 25 and project of its type in the world and planning application for the expansion
80 metres under the ground and which sections have already been completed at Falconwood. Drilling was carried out
could run from Falconwood to Well Hall for a 20km stretch between Elstree and St earlier in the year of a test shaft in Edith
and on to Blackheath. John’s Wood; in south London between Nesbit Walk..
Croydon and Roehampton, a further one
The route of the cable, which has recently
been subject to test drillings, is still to
be decided but is likely to run under
hundreds of houses on the Corbett and
Page Estates in Eltham.
National Grid, which is responsible for
running and developing the country’s
cable network, has decided not to inform
householders in the area until its plans
become firm.
Analysts believe that demand for
electricity in central London will exceed
supply at some time in the next decade.
28
Be a good neighbour
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