April 29, 2025

Rewiring GB – A Comparison of Electricity Transmission Technologies

Decarbonising energy will require major investment in new electricity transmission infrastructure.  It’s estimated that by 2035 we need to build five times more onshore transmission infrastructure than we have built in the last 30 years, and four times the amount of offshore transmission infrastructure than currently exists.

A new report by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and Mott MacDonald called A Comparison of Electricity Transmission Technologies looks at lifetime costs of different on and offshore technologies for transmitting low carbon electricity around Britain in the next 10-15 years. Steel lattice towers, ‘T’ pylons or burying cables? What can we do to existing circuits to make better use of the network?  What are the different network requirements of solar, wind and nuclear generation vs the gas power stations we already have?  What’s most cost effective, and what impact will these changes have on the landscape/environment?

Journalists came to this online briefing so hear from the report’s Project Board and put their questions to them.

Speakers included:

Prof Keith Bell, Chair of the Project Board for the IET Transmission Technologies report, and ScottishPower Chair in Future Power Systems at the University of Strathclyde

Katherine Jackson, Project Board member and Energy Specialist

Prof John Loughhead, Project Board member, IET Fellow and Past President, and Industrial Professor of Clean Energy at the University of Birmingham

Prof Andrew Lovett, Project Board member and Professor of Geography at the University of East Anglia

David Reid, one of the authors of the IET Transmission Technologies report and Global Practice Leader for integrated electricity networks at Mott MacDonald