insights National Grid and Linxon breaks ground on a new substation in the heart of London

• National Grid and Linxon today announced the start of construction on a new high voltage substation at Bengeworth Road, as part of the £1bn London Power Tunnels Project to rewire London
• New substation will help power homes and businesses across London, balance voltage on the network and allow more future renewable electricity to connect to the grid

A major milestone has been reached in the construction of a new 400kV electricity substation in Bengeworth Road, Lambeth with teams from National Grid and Linxon making a start on the construction of the substation. 

The new substation in the heart of London is part of National Grid’s London Power Tunnels project, a seven-year, £1 billion project, to rewire South London via deep underground tunnels. This vital work to replace ageing high-voltage cables will expand capacity and help keep Londoners connected to secure and reliable electricity supplies.

It is being built on UK Power Network’s existing substation site boundary at Bengeworth Road and will connect in the centre of the LPT route from Wimbledon to Crayford. The substation will play a critical role in ensuring homes and business across London are powered, voltage limits on the transmission network remain stable and enabling clean, green energy to be transported to where it is needed most. The high voltage substation will be built using Hitachi Energy’s SF6 free gas insulated switchgear technology in a UK first, and forms part of National Grid’s ambition to have no SF6 in electrical assets by 2050.

Onur Aydemir, Project Director for London Power Tunnels said: “Breaking ground at Bengeworth Road marks the first major milestone in the development of this new substation, which forms part of our £1bn project to completely rewire South London.”
“We’ve been working closely with the local community to keep them informed as the project progresses, and we’re delighted that our Community Grant Fund has already benefited the Ruskin Park community. In addition, National Grid’s commitment to a biodiversity net gain of 10% or more has also resulted in 27 new trees being planted in Ruskin Park, close to the new substation.”

“We are proud to be supporting National Grid in the delivery of this critical infrastructure, providing secure and reliable power to London, where we are deploying Hitachi Energy’s EconiQ™ SF6 free solution, further demonstrating Linxon’s commitment to sustainably power the world with carbon free energy. Today marks a key milestone for the integrated project team as we break ground and construction commences”, said Chris Goodwin, Chief Operating Officer, Linxon.

The Bengeworth Road Substation will be complete in 2026. For more information about the project visit: London Power Tunnels | National Grid ETNational Grid has a continued programme of investment into the UK energy transition, which will see £16bn invested from 2021-2026 to support the UK’s net zero goals. It has launched the largest overhaul of the grid in generations, The Great Grid Upgrade, will enable millions of UK homes and businesses to use renewable energy to power the things they love in years to come.