Friday 9 February 2018

Royal opening for £1bn ‘energy superhighway’ in London

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall have officially opened a new electricity superhighway in London, which supplies power from below the capital’s streets.

National Grid’s £1 billion London Power Tunnels project to rewire the capital consists of 200km of high voltage power cables inside a network of 32km of tunnels.

They run from Hackney in the east to Willesden in the west and from Kensal Green to Wimbledon in the south.

The seven-year project will supply around 20% of the capitals’ growing electricity needs.

Prince Charles put on a hard hat for a tour of the tunnels, while the Duchess was shown an above-ground substation with a view into the tunnels.

They also met school children, who visited the grid operator’s education centre, set up to encourage young people to learn more about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said: “This important infrastructure will help increase productivity by cutting the number of road works needed for maintenance, as well as powering London with the safe and reliable electricity supplies it needs for the future.”