Maintaining aging electrical infrastructure is becoming an important part of transmission system investment as electricity demand increases and the generation mix changes. Jacobs has expanded its role in National Grid’s Asset Health Intervention Programme to cover three U.K. regions under a five-year program.
The work, valued at more than $13 million (£10 million), covers more than 800 transmission assets across the Central, Southeast and Southwest regions. Jacobs will provide multidisciplinary detailed design, design assurance and construction support while coordinating with National Grid’s Asset Operations teams on upgrades to assets that remain in service.
The program includes the replacement and refurbishment of equipment such as circuit breakers, disconnectors, surge arresters, instrument transformers and through-wall bushings. Jacobs will serve as the sole supplier across the three regions for the designated scope.
The regional programs are expected to deliver more than 1,380 asset replacements combined. The work also includes ad-hoc emergency interventions intended to help maintain electricity supply security.
A standardized approach will be used for recurring asset renewal activities. Designs will be aligned with National Grid standards, with the objective of supporting consistent delivery across a high volume of interventions while reducing disruption to live network operations.
Jacobs will use a dedicated U.K.-based team supported by specialists from its wider organization. The delivery model is structured to allow resources to be scaled according to program requirements and to apply common design methods, digital tools and automation across the work.
The program adds to Jacobs’ existing work supporting National Grid’s transmission system and follows previous assignments involving management consultancy and design and project services.
For transmission owners and contractors, the program illustrates the scale of asset renewal required to maintain aging electrical infrastructure while network equipment remains operational. The combination of standardized design, regional delivery and construction support is also suited to programs involving large numbers of similar asset interventions.
The work comes as the U.K. electricity system incorporates a substantially larger share of renewable and clean-energy generation than it did two decades ago. The source material states that this share increased from approximately 5% to 50% over that period, based on U.K. government statistics.
Source: Jacobs.
