The UK National Grid said on 29 July that 116 new-design T-pylons along 57km route from Hinkley to Seabank will connect six million homes and businesses to low carbon energy. The first T-pylon on National Grid’s Hinkley Connection is due to be constructed at the end of July 2021. Once energised, they will be the UK’s first operational T-pylons and the first new design for a UK electricity pylon for almost a century.
The T-pylons have a single pole and T-shaped cross arms which hold the wires in a diamond ‘earring’ shape. They are around 35 metres high; about a third shorter than traditional 400kV lattice pylons, have a smaller footprint and use less land. The new high-voltage 400kV overhead line featuring the new pylons is just one element of the Hinkley Connection which will run from Hinkley to Seabank, near Avonmouth. The full route is made up of 14 interconnected project stages which are set for completion by 2025. Construction work started in 2018 and, as a critical infrastructure project, has continued throughout 2020.
