Hector Pearson, National Grid, NAAONB Conference 2015
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National Grid is responsible for electricity and gas transmission networks in the UK. It has established a £500 million Visual Impact Provision (VIP) to mitigate the visual impact of existing electricity transmission lines that pass through protected landscapes like Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) and National Parks. An independent advisory group provides guidance on prioritizing spending. Landscape assessments identified the highest impact sections for potential undergrounding or other mitigation work. A Landscape Enhancement Initiative will also fund smaller local visual improvement projects. National Grid is engaging stakeholders on options for the shortlisted areas and seeks collaborative partnerships to effectively implement the VIP.
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Hector Pearson, National Grid, NAAONB Conference 2015
- 1. Place your chosen image here. The four corners must just cover the arrow tips. For covers, the three pictures should be the same size and in a straight line. National Grid, The VIP Project and AONBs Hector PearsonHector Pearson
- 2. 2 At the centre of the industry National Grid’s job is to connect people to the energy they use, safely. We are at the heart of one of the greatest challenges facing our society— delivering clean energy to support our world long into the future.
- 4. 4 High level facts and figures Electricity Transmission: 7,200 km of 400kV & 275kV overhead line 1,400 km of underground cable 329 substations Gas Transmission: 7,660 km of high pressure pipe 23 compressor stations Gas Distribution: Four networks - 131,000 km of gas distribution pipeline National Grid Property: Aim is to bring 645 sites of brownfield land back to beneficial use New Joint venture with Berkeley Group – St.William – to make much of this happen.
- 5. 55 The Future Energy Challenge 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 Sustainability Affordability Security of supply 15% of all energy to come from renewable sources by 2020
- 6. 6 Our job: Creating the networks of the future Radical change in generation mix Manage dramatic reduction in fossil fuels and CO2 emissions Connect new nuclear power plants Connect to new offshore wind power – and handle intermittency Adapt to new technologies for clean energy – e.g CCS, solar Using the existing network - reinforce and increase capacity of overhead lines and underground cables Improve our ability to import gas from all over the world
- 7. 7 2 new approaches: routeing new lines New approach to routeing new electricity lines A process rather than a policy Early and meaningful engagement with stakeholders and communities to understand local considerations Options Appraisal methods to be applied on a case-by-case basis – no preference for overhead or underground solutions No inherent preference for either overhead or underground Greater emphasis on mitigating visual impact – recognise that not all sites that are valued or important are in designated areas
- 8. 2 new approaches: the new T-Pylon
- 9. Joe Turner | Consents Officer New approach for existing lines Visual Impact Provision
- 10. Background 10 Under the new price controls, has agreed a provision of £500 million for electricity transmission owners to mitigate the visual impact of existing electricity infrastructure in nationally protected landscapes in Great Britain. For the period 2013 – 2021 This provision can only be spent on existing lines through Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks For this equates to 571km of Overhead Line, around 7% of our network
- 11. Our lines in AONBs Clwydian Range | 18.1 km Anglesey | 1km Cotswolds | 98 km Blackdown Hills | 14.8 km Cannock Chase | 0.9 km Chilterns | 41.3 km Cornwall | 3.3 km Dedham Vale | 2.9 km Cranbourne Chase & West Wiltshire | 2.4 kmDorset | 39.9 km Shropshire Hills | 2.6 km Forest of Bowland | 1.9 km High Weald | 32.9 km Kent Downs | 35.8 km North Wessex Downs | 79.1 km Suffolk Coasts & Heaths | 4.2 km Solway Coast | 0.4 km Tamar Valley | 7.8 km Wye Valley | 4.1 km
- 12. Our lines in National Parks Brecon Beacons | 17.3 km Lake District | 3.5 km New Forest | 27 km North York Moors | 0.8 km Peak District | 12.8 km Snowdonia | 53.1 km South Downs | 65.3 km Source: www.nationalparks.gov.uk
- 13. Our Policy & approach Our Policy: •Consulted on a draft policy from July – Sept 2013 •Policy approved in March 2014 •Set up an independently chaired Stakeholder Advisory Group to help National Grid set the priorities for spending the £500m •Committed to substantial engagement with organisations and communities •Decisions to be based on a set of Guiding Principles Landscape and visual impact assessment •Methodology developed for us by Prof. Carys Swanwick and approved by the Stakeholder Advisory Group •Employed 2 landscape architect firms to assess & rank all 571km of our lines in AONBs & National Parks.
- 14. Guiding principles 14 Result in greatest landscape enhancement benefits. We will work with stakeholders to decide how to treat existing National Grid electricity infrastructure to bring the most benefit from the Visual Impact Provision. Candidate schemes will be selected with reference to the Guiding Principles below. result in greatest opportunities to conserve and enhance natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage whilst avoiding unacceptable environmental impacts result in greatest opportunities to encourage public understanding and enjoyment of the protected landscapes, including positive socio- economic impacts; Are technically feasible in context of the wider transmission system Are economical and efficient As these principles may sometimes conflict with one another and each scheme is likely to perform differently against them, we will need to carefully balance the choices we make, with the help of stakeholders, against the Guiding Principles.
- 15. The Stakeholder Advisory Group
- 16. Progress Stakeholder Advisory Group: •Has met 5 times •Has approved the landscape & visual impact assessment methodology, and endorsed the results – published in Nov 2014 •Initiated & approved the Landscape Enhancement Initiative (£24m for locally derived small scale projects) •Has considered the process they will use to make decisions at September meeting Local stakeholders: •Met groups of local ‘technical’ stakeholders in each of the short-listed areas •Public drop-ins in the short-listed areas
- 17. VIP short-list: sections with the highest landscape and visual impact 17 Designation Substations Tower numbers Tamar Valley Landuph to Langage 004 - 0019 211 - 238 200 - 210 Peak District (East) 156-164 170 - 177 195 - 210 Brecon Beacons (Gill) Pembroke to Walham 181-199 Snowdonia (Gill) Pentir to Trawsfynydd 014-032 High Weald (LUC) Dungeness to Ninfield 118 - 133 Dorset (LUC) Chickerell to Mannington 025 - 039 New Forest (LUC) Fawley to Mannington 058 - 068 North Wessex Downs Bramley to Malksham 82 -104 Peak District (West) Stalybridge to Thorpe March Dorset (LUC) Chickerell to Exeter
- 19. Process for major VIP schemes 1. Options appraisals being progressed for all short-listed areas 2. Options appraisals will be tested with local Stakeholder Reference Groups, and revised if necessary 3. Preferred options presented to SAG on 8-9 September 4. SAG to prioritise and order areas to progress to next stage 5. Prioritised areas progress as ‘normal’ projects – engineering feasibility studies, voluntary EIA, planning applications etc. 6. SAG to review progress, and bring forward ‘next on the list’ areas if projects fall away.
- 20. What next?
- 21. About The Landscape Enhancement Initiative • The LEI is a grant scheme that forms part of VIP. • LEI will fund local visual improvement schemes to reduce the visual impact of National Grid electricity transmission lines in AONBs and National Parks. • This is in addition to the smaller number of major engineering schemes which will be progressed as part of the VIP project.
- 22. Who can apply?
- 23. What can be funded?
- 24. The process
- 25. Partnership approach We are committed to working collaboratively with Stakeholder Advisory Group members With AONBs With national parks We are committed to transparency – engage, inform, explain Together we need to manage expectations – what can be done and what can’t. Timely communication – when you need it. National Grid needs to be sure spending is allowed by Ofgem VIP will only work with your support!
Editor's Notes
- Thank you for asking us to attend today, it’s a pleasure to come and talk at the AONB Conference. NG privatised in 1990 – private limited company owned by shareholders Merged with Transco over 10 years ago Sold some of the gas d networks shortly after this to create competition
- Who are we and what do we do? Our job is to connect people to the energy they use. We all rely on having energy at our finger tips: our society is built on it. From the warmth and light we rely on at home, and the power which keeps our factories and offices going, to the mobile communications and other technologies that are essential parts of our modern lifestyle. National Grid owns and manages the grids to which many different energy sources are connected. In Britain we run systems that deliver gas and electricity across the entire country. In the North Eastern states of the US, we provide power directly to millions of customers. We hold a vital position at the centre of the energy system: we join everything up. That puts us at the heart of one of the greatest challenges facing our society; the creation of new sustainable energy solutions for the future - and the development of an energy system that can underpin our economic prosperity in the 21st century.
- Regulated parts of the business – Elec T and Gas T (Motorways) and Gas D (A-roads) System operator – balancing Scotland Non regs – property and business development
- The situation at the start of the 21st century is very different from when the grids were first constructed in the early part of the 20th century. The challenge for society today is that the way we produce and consume energy is no longer sustainable: It was only a few years ago that the big debates about climate change, about energy security and about affordability were seen as three separate issues, but now it‘s clear that they’re interconnected. We can’t respond to one without taking account of the others. They are different aspects of the same challenge: the creation of new sustainable energy solutions for the future. On climate change: there is broad consensus about the need to reduce carbon emissions – and that has been captured in legislation. The Climate Change Act requires the UK to cut greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050, from 1990 levels. - a stretching target. Meanwhile, concern about constraining the use of finite natural resources has been growing. On ensuring the security of supply: the depletion of natural gas reserves has brought the issue home to people in the UK. In 2001 we imported only 1% of our gas, today we import 50% - and that is set to rise to 80% by 2020. So operating effectively in an inter-dependent, international energy market has become a priority. The affordability of energy is a concern to everyone – from families to governments. Rising oil prices are in the headlines constantly. At the same time, the industry requires huge levels of investment – which have to be delivered in ways that consumers and the country can afford. Our position at the centre of the industry puts us right at the heart of developing new solutions to meet that challenge.
- It involves: laying down new routes to bring additional power into the system – and increasing the capacity of overhead lines and underground cables connecting to the new nuclear plants which will be built extending the network to connect to where the offshore wind power will be generated installing the capacity to import gas from all over the world and connect to electricity networks across Europe.
- Building the energy infrastructure for the future means delivering major construction projects right across the country. We know this is disruptive to the communities where they’re taking place. We’ve always consulted widely with the public and now - because there are so many big projects in development – we consult more and earlier than ever before. We put a lot of effort into the consultation process: About 3-5 years before a new project starts, we hold consultation meetings with local communities to explain the possible route options, respond to queries and encourage people to send in feedback. Taking everyone’s views into account, National Grid then decides on the preferred route option. We ask for further feedback - then a proposal is put to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change who is responsible for the final decision. Once a project has the go-ahead, we continue to work with local communities in the run-up to and during the construction phase; keeping traffic re-routing and other disruption to a minimum; working with schools and community groups; always ready to answer questions and provide information updates.
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