TOWY USK: DEVELOPING THE RIGHT CONNECTION FOR THE PLACES IT PASSES THROUGH

Danny James is Senior Project Manager at Green GEN Cymru

This week, we have launched our latest public consultation on the Towy Usk Grid Connection.

For me and the wider team, this is an important milestone. It is also the culmination of a significant amount of work since we last consulted in spring 2024.

During that time, we have listened to feedback from communities, landowners, stakeholders and elected representatives. We have undertaken further environmental surveys and assessments, developed our engineering design and looked again at different parts of the route to understand where improvements could be made.

The result is the most developed version of our Towy Usk proposals to date. But it is not the final version. That is why this consultation matters.

Towy Usk is a proposed new 132kV electricity connection running for approximately 98 kilometres between the proposed Nant Mithil Energy Park in Powys and a new National Grid connection point near Llandyfaelog in Carmarthenshire.

Its purpose is straightforward: to provide the electricity network capacity needed to connect new renewable energy generation in Wales and help meet our future electricity needs.

How we deliver that connection, however, requires careful consideration.

There is no single technology that is right for every kilometre of a project of this scale. The landscapes, communities and environmental considerations change as you travel along the route, and our approach needs to reflect that.

That is why we increasingly talk about our infrastructure toolkit.

For Towy Usk, we are proposing a combination of our new steel monopole, wood poles and targeted sections of underground cable. Each has different characteristics and can help us respond to the particular circumstances of different parts of the route.

One of the most significant changes people will see in this consultation is our new monopole.

Unveiled last month, the monopole has been designed specifically for our proposed 132kV network. At around 22 metres tall, it is approximately five to six metres lower than the steel lattice pylons previously considered for the main overhead line.

Its single-pole form also gives it a simpler profile and smaller footprint.

For the project team, developing the monopole has been about challenging ourselves to find a better solution. We need infrastructure that can safely and reliably carry the electricity Wales will increasingly depend upon, but we also recognise the importance of considering how that infrastructure interacts with the landscape and communities around it.

The monopole gives us another important tool to do that.

Under the proposals we are consulting on, approximately 81 kilometres of Towy Usk would use monopoles, alongside around 12 kilometres of wood poles and targeted underground cable.

Another important development is our proposal to extend the section of underground cable through the Llanarthney area.

We know that undergrounding is something people have raised with us consistently.

Underground cable can be an appropriate solution in particular locations, but it also brings different environmental, engineering, construction and cost considerations. It therefore needs to be considered carefully rather than treated as a solution that can simply be applied everywhere.

Our approach is to look at where different technologies can have the greatest benefit and to make those decisions using environmental evidence, engineering work and local knowledge.

The updated proposals now include around six kilometres of underground cable in total, alongside monopoles and wood poles.

One of the things I have seen throughout the development of Towy Usk is the value of local knowledge.

Our technical teams can undertake detailed surveys and assessments, but the people who live and work along the route understand these places in a different way.

Feedback can help us better understand how land is used, the importance of particular views or places, how communities move around an area and where there may be opportunities to improve our proposals.

Since our previous consultation, that feedback has sat alongside further environmental assessment and engineering work as we have reviewed the route.

That has resulted not only in changes to the technology we are proposing, but also refinements to the route in a number of locations, an extended section of underground cable and a revised location for the proposed switching station north-east of Llanwrda.

This consultation also contains more detail about how the connection could actually be built, including proposed temporary access areas and construction compounds.

That is important. A project isn’t just the infrastructure people see once construction is complete. We need to understand and manage how it is built, how we access the land required and how we minimise effects during construction.

There is another part of the monopole development that I am particularly pleased about: the opportunity it could create for Welsh businesses.

Manufacturing and supply chain capability has been considered as part of its development from the outset.

As the design and project progress, we want to explore opportunities for businesses in Wales across areas including steel fabrication, components, engineering and associated services.

Building the electricity infrastructure Wales needs is a significant undertaking. We want to make sure we are looking at how the investment required to deliver it can also support skills, businesses and economic opportunities here in Wales.

Although we have done a lot of work since our previous consultation, our proposals are not final.

Between now and 24 November, we want people to look closely at what we are proposing and tell us what they think.

We are holding six public consultation events along the route, providing more than 30 hours for people to come and speak directly with members of the project team.

We’ll have detailed maps and information available, as well as 3D visualisations to help people understand what the proposed infrastructure could look like in different locations.

Most importantly, there will be people there to talk to.

If you live or work near the proposed route, own or manage land in the area, represent a local organisation or simply want to understand more about the project, I would encourage you to come along.

Towy Usk has evolved considerably since we first shared our proposals. The challenge for us is to develop the infrastructure Wales needs while making good decisions about how and where that infrastructure is delivered.

This consultation is another important part of getting those decisions right.