An £8m upgrade by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) to improve the power supply for thousands of homes and businesses in Southampton has now reached a key project milestone.
Just four months into the project, the design and build phase of the first transformer has been successfully completed. This will enable the first section of the newly-upgraded North Baddesley infrastructure to be energised imminently.
SSEN’s works, which will benefit 7,500 homes and businesses by making connections more resilient while also supporting greater capacity, are being carried out in partnership with the Freedom Group of Companies Ltd as design and build contractor.
The project is being delivered in stages over the next fourteen months, including the design and rebuild of another transformer. Five kilometres of overhead lines between North Baddesley and Rownham will also be put underground.
Once complete, the project will benefit customers now and in the years to come, strengthening the network against increasingly adverse weather conditions, reducing the risk of power cuts, and expanding capacity, which will help support the connection of more low-carbon technologies to the grid; an important step on the journey to net zero.
Lewis Stimpson, SSEN’s Senior Project Manager for the works says:
“This project for our customers in Southampton’s North Baddesley area is delivering a network that’ll be more resilient to adverse weather and fit for the adoption of low-carbon technologies such as heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicles.
“Our decision to reroute a significant stretch of overhead lines underground will improve the landscape and visual amenity for the local community, by removing a considerable amount of visible infrastructure.”
Due to be completed in June 2025, the works are just one phase of a series of planned upgrades by SSEN in the Southampton area. A further investment of over £60m in the region will get underway early next year and will deliver further network improvements. This ongoing investment ensures customers’ power supplies will be ready to meet the growing demands from homes and businesses, as more customers turn to low carbon technologies, such as EVs and heat pumps.