Households close to new power cables to be paid up to £10,000
The Chancellor said that he wanted to cut the waiting times for new wind farms to be connected to the grid.
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Your support makes all the difference.Households that live near new power lines will be paid up to £10,000 in order to avoid local protests against the vital infrastructure.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that he wanted to cut the delays that developers face when trying to build new steel lattice towers and other electricity transmission infrastructure.
Speaking in the Commons, he set out the Government’s response to a recent review by National Grid’s former UK chief executive Nick Winser.
The review warned that the roll-out of new wind farms and nuclear plants could be meaningless without the cables to connect them to the grid and take their electricity to homes and businesses around the country.
“It is… taking too long for clean energy businesses to access the electricity grid,” the Chancellor told MPs on Wednesday.
“So after talking to businesses such as National Grid, Octopus Energy and SSE, we today publish our full response to the Winser review and Connections Action Plan.
“These measures will cut grid access delays by 90% and offer up to £10,000 off electricity bills over 10 years for those living closest to new transmission infrastructure.
“Taken together these planning and grid reforms are estimated to accelerate around £90bn of additional business investment over the next 10 years.”
Keith Anderson, chief executive of ScottishPower said: “This is a much needed boost to get Britain back on track as a nation that builds infrastructure the rest of the world can envy.
“We were pioneers with the first electricity grids almost a century ago and these electricity superhighways are critical to bettering the lives of the nation – securing more green and homegrown energy and enabling the shift to clean transport and heating.
“A relentless focus on people, planning and the UK pipeline is key to unlocking the massive economic growth of these investments. We welcome the Government’s plans to support communities who host this vital national infrastructure and raise awareness of the positive long-term impact on society.”