A 400kV cable which will deliver more power to central London has started the 20km underground pull from Elstree to St John's Wood:
The £40 million turnkey project, known as 'The London Connection', is part of National Grid's programme to upgrade the power grid for North West London and the City area. Running in a 20km long three-metre diameter tunnel - the largest tunnelling project that National Grid has ever undertaken - the cable will link a new substation at Elstree to the new indoor high-voltage GIS (gas insulated switchgear) substation that ABB has been building at St John's Wood.
The 400kV connection is using ABB's high-technology cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation technology, which requires less maintenance than conventional oil and gas filled cables.
Big order:
ABB is supplying, installing, commissioning and testing 61km of 150mm diameter cable, weighing a total of 2,440 tonnes and delivered on 63 massive drums. The cable comprises three separate lengths, one for each phase of the three-phase electricity supply, and is being pulled in three sections - from Elstree to Cricklewood, from Cricklewood to Elstree and from Cricklewood to St John's Wood, with the longest section being around 7.5km. ABB is using a special arrangement of winches, cable rollers, brakes and pulling equipment to ensure smooth and safe cable pulling down the shafts and through the tunnel.
The cable system is planned to be ready for energisation in Summer 2005.
For further information on The London Connection, there is a special website dedicated to this project at www.thelondonconnection.co.uk.
Contact: Karen Strong
ABB Power Technologies
Tel: 01785 825050
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.abb.com