Power award for Balfour Beatty

A £214 million (€244.84 million) overhead line project which is part of the connection scheme for the UK’s Hinkley Point C (HPC) nuclear power station project has been awarded to Balfour Beatty.

The UK contractor will deliver the North and South 400kV overhead line project on behalf of multinational electricity and gas utility company National Grid.

One of three awards within the framework, it is awarded through National Grid’s Overhead Line Design & Build Framework, and the contract is said to form a critical part of the Hinkley Point C (HPC) connection scheme, linking the new nuclear reactor to the national grid.

This project marks the third major package of works Balfour Beatty is to deliver at HPC. This follows the company’s appointment to the nuclear power station’s electrical works package in a joint venture with NG Bailey in 2015, now part of the MEH Joint Venture, and the tunnelling and marine works package in 2017.

Balfour Beatty will design, supply, install, test and commission a new overhead line spanning 48.4km and crossing through the Mendip Hills in Somerset, where Balfour Beatty is currently delivering cable works under a separate contract for National Grid. On completion, the new line will connect HPC with a new substation in Avonmouth, Bristol.

The company will use National Grid’s new T-Pylon design, which it said was the first time this technology had been used on a live transmission asset, and it claimed this would improve efficiency, reliability and safety by reducing the need for working at height.

Mark Bullock, Balfour Beatty’s chief executive officer for its rail and utilities business, said, “Our extensive knowledge and unique capability in delivering major complex overhead line schemes, makes us ideally positioned to play a key role in helping to deliver the first nuclear power station to be built in the UK for more than 20 years.

“We look forward to working with National Grid to successfully and safely deliver low-carbon electricity for around 6 million homes across the UK.”

Works are due to start almost immediately, with completion expected in the summer of 2025.