National Grid to connect EV battery factory
A National Grid engineering project is underway to meet the power needs of the UK’s biggest electric vehicle battery factory being built in Somerset.
Image for illustration purposes.
UK, London: A National Grid engineering project is underway to meet the power needs of the UK’s biggest electric vehicle battery factory currently being built in Somerset. The multi-million-pound project is important for the 40 GWh factory at the 620-acre Gravity Smart Campus near Bridgwater.
The facility, run by Tata Group’s battery business Agratas, is set to open in 2026 and aims to supply nearly half of the batteries needed by the country’s automotive industry by the early 2030s. Providing the power to run the facility is the focus of the electricity infrastructure project. National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) is building two interim 33 kV connections which will power the site until a high voltage 400 kV substation, built by National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET), is finished.
Work is underway on the first NGED connection which will see a new bulk supply point at Dunwear with two 132/33 kV transformers along with circuit breaker bays close to an existing grid supply point nearby. The transformers will feed a new 33 kV switchboard from which the Gravity connection and other customers will be supplied.
The second connection will see five miles of cables laid from the Bridgwater bulk supply point substation to an Independent Connection Provider switchroom at Gravity. Work is ongoing and will take advantage of a route laid by NGED several years ago.
After a request from Agratas to connect the factory to the HV transmission network, NGET plans to build a new 400 kV transmission substation at Woolavington. The company will work with residents and stakeholders as work progresses throughout 2025.
Site preparation at the factory is progressing, with the project reaching a major milestone: the completion of all piling operations. Key infrastructure is also in place.
Source: National Grid
#electricity infrastructure#National Grid#substation#transmission line#UK