NATIONAL GRID | BUSINESS PROFILE
£1 billion investment has increased Grain LNG’s annual importation capacity to 14.8 million tonnes – equivalent to 20 per cent of the UK’s gas demand – making it the UK’s leading LNG importation terminal. In addition, by doubling its interconnector
capacity with mainland Europe – using subsea transmission cables that allow electricity to flow between countries – National Grid believes the UK could unlock up to £1 billion of benefits each year for energy consumers by 2020. Four existing links – to France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland – total 4 gigawatts or around 5 per cent of existing electricity generation capacity. This level, however, remains low. Increased interconnectivity with the Continent could potentially evolve into a European Supergrid that would facilitate trade and promote a more collaborative approach to energy supply. National Grid is also working towards a more
collaborative approach to managing the UK’s electricity demand via Smart Grids. These systems use digital information and smart metering to link end-to-end energy sources and users in a much more intelligent and coordinated way.
MINIMISING IMPACT The scale of the energy transmission and distribution networks means that National Grid
works very hard to minimise any impact on our lives when new infrastructure is built, or when repairs and maintenance are undertaken. While modernising and improving energy infrastructure is a crucial part of meeting the challenge, this can affect the landscape and communities, so National Grid consults widely to build consensus on these decisions. Overhead cables are always an aesthetic
challenge and, together with the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Royal Institute of British Architects, National Grid launched an international competition in 2011 to create a pylon design for the 21st century. The winning design – created by Danish architects and engineers Bystrup – is the T-pylon. It is smaller and sleeker in design and – unlike existing pylons – able to be routed in a way that follows the contours of the land, without sudden changes in direction. Similarly, the disruption of traffic and the
congestion caused by repairs and maintenance of under-road infrastructure could be a thing of the past following National Grid’s history- making use of robotics to fix a leaking 18-inch gas main under the streets of Camden in North London. National Grid drew upon the services of repair robot CISBOT, developed by the New York-based firm ULC Robotics, which enters
the gas main through a single excavation and – under the control of a trained operator above ground – seeks out and seals leaking joints.
EDUCATING FUTURE USERS Meeting the energy challenge is not just about developing technologies and bringing new sources of energy on line, however. “We’re inspiring the next generation to take on the big challenges,” says UK Executive Director John Pettigrew, “to contribute to society and deliver the changes required in the 21st century.” In 2013, National Grid launched Careers
Lab, a four-module programme designed to respond to the growing gap between young people’s skills and the needs of business. Piloted in five Midlands schools, Careers Lab introduces business ambassadors into classrooms to deliver inspiring careers lessons alongside teachers, and to help students think about the choices they make while at school. Fifty years from now, the UK’s energy
mix will be even more complex than it is today, with power coming from a huge range of renewable and non-renewable sources. Wherever we end up, however, it’s certain that National Grid’s efforts in meeting the energy challenge will have played a crucial role in helping us get there.
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