Balfour Beatty to build Britain’s biggest substation job

Balfour Beatty has been named as National Grid’s contractor for what is expected to be Britain’s largest electricity substation at Teesworks on Teesside.

The deal emerged as National Grid Electricity Transmission announced it had bought the 73-acre Dorman Point site for the massive new power facility.

The Teesside Node A substation will initially provide 1.44GW of additional electricity capacity to support major data centre, AI, advanced manufacturing and other energy-intensive developments across the former steelworks site.

The project, thought to be worth over £200m, forms part of National Grid’s Great Grid Upgrade programme, with the first 1,440 MVA of capacity scheduled to come online by the end of 2029.

Teesworks will now carry out six months of land remediation and preparation works before handing over the site to National Grid.

The new substation will sit directly beneath existing 275kV and 400kV overhead transmission lines, providing a connection point for the major expansion of the area’s electricity network.

The additional capacity has been contracted to Steel River Power, which owns and operates the private electricity distribution network serving Teesworks.

Steel River Power is a joint venture between Steel River Energy and North West Electricity Networks, part of the ScottishPower/Iberdrola group.

Chris Musgrave, chairman of Teesworks, said: “Agreeing this deal with National Grid is a significant milestone for Teesworks and reflects the scale of the opportunity here at the Teesworks site. Making this land available for what is expected to be the UK’s largest substation is an important step in putting the infrastructure in place to support the next phase of industrial development across the site.

“Our focus now is on delivering the remediation works and preparing the land for handover, helping to ensure Teesworks is ready to support the energy needs of major businesses and industries for years to come.”

Balfour Beatty to build Britain’s biggest substation job | Construction Enquirer News