#nationalgrid — Public Fediverse posts

Natwest chair: Boost investment or risk ‘inter-generational crisis’

Thursday 17 September 2026 4:00 am  |  Updated:  Wednesday 16 September 2026 6:20 pm Haythornthwaite said the UK was…
#EuropeSays #Britain #Europe #EU #NatWest #2030prosperityalliance #autumnbudget2026 #Business #diageo #G7 #iranwar #JohnHealey #NationalGrid #News #prosperity #pufins #rickhaythornthwaite #UKeconomy
https://www.europesays.com/britain/125739/

https://www.europesays.com/britain/125739/ Natwest chair: Boost investment or risk ‘inter-generational crisis’ #2030ProsperityAlliance #AutumnBudget2026 #Business #diageo #G7 #IranWar #JohnHealey #NationalGrid #NatWest #News #prosperity #pufins #RickHaythornthwaite #UKEconomy

Morecambe offshore wind farm receives development consent for transmission assets

Transmission assets for the Morecambe offshore wind farm have received development consent approval by the UK’s Secretary of…
#EuropeSays #Britain #Europe #EU #NationalGrid #CopenhagenInfrastructurePartners #CopenhagenOffshorePartners #Energysecurity #FlotationEnergy #netzero #Offshorewindfarm #renewableenergy #UK #UKenergytransition
https://www.europesays.com/britain/124671/

https://www.europesays.com/britain/124671/ Morecambe offshore wind farm receives development consent for transmission assets #CopenhagenInfrastructurePartners #CopenhagenOffshorePartners #EnergySecurity #FlotationEnergy #NationalGrid #NetZero #OffshoreWindFarm #RenewableEnergy #UK #UKEnergyTransition

https://www.europesays.com/britain/124548/ After Plunging 7.8% in 4 Weeks, Here’s Why the Trend Might Reverse for National Grid (NGG) #LightAtTheEndOfTheTunnel #NationalGrid #RelativeStrengthIndex #TechnicalIndicator #WallStreetAnalysts

Gas supply climbs to 2,610 mmcf as LNG supply rises

The increase comes as the Excelerate-operated FSRU resumes higher LNG supply to the national grid. TBS Report 15…
#EuropeSays #Britain #Europe #EU #NationalGrid
https://www.europesays.com/britain/124426/

https://www.europesays.com/britain/124426/ Gas supply climbs to 2,610 mmcf as LNG supply rises #NationalGrid

Tata Steel UK expects electricity access for EAF project by 2029: CEO Narendran, ETManufacturing

The project — being built at 500 million pounds of government support — aims to reduce site-level CO2…
#EuropeSays #Britain #Europe #EU #NationalGrid #CO2emissionsreduction #crudesteelproductioncapacity #decarbonisationplan #electricarcfurnace #electricityinfrastructure #low-carbonEAF #PortTalbotproject #renewableenergy #TataSteel #tatasteeluk
https://www.europesays.com/britain/95804/

https://www.europesays.com/britain/95804/ Tata Steel UK expects electricity access for EAF project by 2029: CEO Narendran, ETManufacturing #CO2EmissionsReduction #CrudeSteelProductionCapacity #DecarbonisationPlan #ElectricArcFurnace #ElectricityInfrastructure #LowCarbonEAF #NationalGrid #PortTalbotProject #RenewableEnergy #TataSteel #TataSteelUk

GREEN STEEL: Port Talbot’s giant new furnace is built and on its way — as Tata shows off a year of transformation

The centrepiece of Tata Steel’s £1.25bn transformation of Port Talbot — its giant new electric arc furnace — has been built and is now making its way to south Wales.

In a project update, the company said the main components of the furnace had been fabricated and were beginning their journey to Port Talbot from sites around the world.

The furnace has been designed and made by the Italian metals technology firm Tenova, and is billed as one of the largest of its kind ever built, with a main shell measuring more than nine metres across.

Once running, it will be capable of producing 3.2 million tonnes of steel a year, melting scrap using electricity rather than the coal-fired blast furnaces that defined the site for generations.

The update came in the latest instalment of Tata’s own video series charting the rebuild, in which a presenter and project director tour the site a year on from when much of it was still open ground.

Tata’s project director said the big parts were ready to ship, with roughly a two-month sailing ahead of them before they arrive to be offloaded.

The components are being delivered in 11 separate lots, spread out over the coming year, the company said.

According to Tata, the wider project is “on plan” and broadly on time, with the director describing the progress over the past year as a “morale booster” for the workforce.

Around 1,200 people are expected to be working on the site at peak, across civil, mechanical, electrical and piping work.

The video showed the scale of the groundworks — including a former cooling lagoon partly filled with some 220,000 tonnes of stone, and a separate area cleared of around 400,000 tonnes of material.

The footage also showed work on the site’s future scrap yard, which will handle around 70,000 tonnes of scrap a week to feed the new furnace

Nearby, contractors for National Grid are piling the ground for a 275,000-volt substation that will power the furnace, on land the grid operator now leases from Tata.

The furnace site itself was where the UK’s Business and Trade Secretary, Peter Kyle, launched the government’s Steel Strategy in March, and where a groundbreaking ceremony was held in July last year.

Tata’s confident tone follows a turbulent few weeks for the project, however.

Earlier this month, Swansea Bay News reported that the furnace could be delayed by up to eight months over a hold-up in its power connection, prompting cross-party calls for answers and a row over who knew what, and when.

An earlier shipment of furnace parts had also been pushed back by several weeks, with reports linking the delay to rising shipping costs amid tensions in the Middle East.

The switch to electric arc steelmaking, backed by £500m of UK Government funding, is central to Tata’s plan to cut emissions at Port Talbot — but it came at the cost of thousands of jobs when the blast furnaces closed.

A full video tour of the site is available on Tata Steel’s YouTube channel.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Port Talbot’s £1.25bn furnace could be delayed by up to eight months over power hold-up
The grid connection problem that put the project’s timetable in doubt.

Cross-party calls for answers over Port Talbot furnace setback
Politicians press Tata and National Grid over the delay.

Tata ‘confident’ furnace project unaffected after Port Talbot fire
The company’s response after a fire at the steelworks this month.

https://www.europesays.com/britain/?p=59687 GREEN STEEL DELAY: Cross-party calls for answers over Port Talbot furnace setback as politicians press Tata and National Grid #AfanOgwrRhondda #ElectricArcFurnace #ElynStephens #featured #HuwIrrancaDaviesMS #Industry #JanetFinchSaundersMS #NationalGrid #PlaidCymru #TataSteel #WelshConservatives

https://www.europesays.com/britain/?p=58843 GREEN STEEL DELAY: Former Aberavon MS says National Grid should face penalties over delayed electric furnace connection #DavidReesMS #ElectricArcFurnace #GreenSteel #Industry #NationalGrid #PortTalbotSteelworks #TataSteel

GREEN STEEL DELAY: Cross-party calls for answers over Port Talbot furnace setback as politicians press Tata and National Grid

The delay to Port Talbot’s new electric arc furnace has prompted a cross-party call for answers at the Senedd, with members pressing both Tata Steel and the National Grid.

The £1.25bn furnace, central to the future of steelmaking in the town, could be held up by up to eight months because of delays to the power infrastructure the National Grid is building to run it.

Elyn Stephens, Plaid Cymru MS for Afan Ogwr Rhondda, said the delay was “another blow to the communities I represent”.

She said it meant a longer wait for much-needed jobs and economic regeneration, and created further uncertainty for local residents.

“I have contacted Tata directly this afternoon and will be making further representations tomorrow,” she said.

“People in Port Talbot deserve honesty and transparency about when this development is expected to be delivered.”

Huw Irranca-Davies, Labour MS for Afan Ogwr Rhondda, said the news — coming on top of the recent fire at the works — had caused understandable concern for the workforce, unions and the wider supply chain across Wales.

He said he had already been in contact with Tata to seek assurances that the transition to electric steelmaking was proceeding and that the jobs relying on it were protected.

Irranca-Davies said he understood Tata might issue a further statement in the coming days, which he hoped would offer reassurance that the difficulties would be overcome.

He added that he had accepted a place alongside other local members on the Tata Transition Board, and had asked the UK government and the new Welsh Government — including the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Adam Price — to support the move to electric arc production.

The delay also drew comment from the Welsh Conservatives. Janet Finch-Saunders, the party’s shadow minister for enterprise, connectivity and energy, called the situation “deeply concerning”.

She said the furnace was “a vital investment for the future of Welsh steelmaking, jobs and economic growth”, and that the National Grid and the UK government “must urgently work together to resolve these connectivity issues and ensure this strategically important project is delivered without further delay”.

The interventions follow a similar call from David Rees, the former Aberavon MS who chaired the Senedd’s cross-party group on steel, who said the National Grid should face penalties if the connection slipped further.

The electric arc furnace is designed to make lower-carbon “green steel” by melting scrap rather than burning coal, replacing the blast furnaces that closed in 2024 with the loss of around 2,000 jobs — part of a wider £1.25bn transformation of the works.

It relies on a major grid upgrade — including a major substation expansion approved by the council earlier this year — which the National Grid has said is running late because of ground conditions and planning issues.

Tata has said the project timeline “continues to evolve” and that it is working to deliver the furnace “safely and as quickly as possible”.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

GREEN STEEL: Port Talbot’s £1.25bn furnace could be delayed by up to eight months over power hold-up
Tata’s warning over the delayed grid connection.

GREEN STEEL DELAY: Former Aberavon MS says National Grid should face penalties
David Rees calls for penalties if the connection slips further.

‘Green power’ boost for Port Talbot as council green-lights major substation expansion
The substation upgrade central to powering the new furnace.

STEELWORKS FIRE: Tata says blaze restricted to ‘confined area’ of Cold Mill
A separate fire at the site earlier this month.

GREEN STEEL DELAY: Former Aberavon MS says National Grid should face penalties over delayed electric furnace connection

The delay to Port Talbot’s new electric arc furnace — caused by the National Grid’s own infrastructure works running behind — is worse than feared, according to the former politician who spent years scrutinising the project.

David Rees, the former Labour MS for Aberavon and a long-standing chair of the Senedd’s cross-party group on steel, was responding to Tata Steel’s warning that the £1.25bn furnace could be held up by up to eight months, after the National Grid told the company its connection project was running late.

The grid operator needs to build two new substations and lay miles of underground cabling to power the furnace, and has blamed ground conditions and planning issues for the hold-up.

His comments relate to that grid connection — a separate issue from the recent fire at the site’s cold mill.

Rees said he had questioned the grid connection from the very start of the project.

“One of the questions I asked Tata at the beginning of the EAF project was about the grid connection, and were they sure that it would be ready by late 2027,” he said.

He said he had been told repeatedly that the National Grid had given assurances the work would be delivered on time.

“It’s a question I continued to ask every time we met to discuss the project, and every time I received the same assurances,” he said.

In recent months, he said, workers had begun raising concerns that the timeline was slipping.

“I had hoped it would only be a couple of months at worst, and that we would see the EAF operating in spring 2028,” he said.

“It now appears that that was too hopeful, and it is now moving into autumn 2028 before the EAF is operational.”

That timeline goes further than Tata’s own public position, which put the likely delay at six to eight months.

Rees called on the UK and Welsh governments to commit to getting the furnace running as quickly as possible and to minimise any further delay.

He said they “must get National Grid to guarantee this, and pay penalties if they fail to do so”.

The electric arc furnace is central to the future of steelmaking in Port Talbot, replacing the blast furnaces that closed in 2024 with the loss of around 2,000 jobs.

It is designed to make lower-carbon “green steel” by melting scrap in an electric furnace rather than burning coal — but it needs a major grid upgrade to power it.

“We all want to see steel once again being produced in Port Talbot, and it is imperative that this is done as soon as possible,” Rees said.

“Our town and workers deserve nothing less.”

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

GREEN STEEL: Port Talbot’s £1.25bn furnace could be delayed by up to eight months over power hold-up
Tata’s warning over the delayed grid connection.

‘Green power’ boost for Port Talbot as council green-lights major substation expansion
The substation upgrade central to powering the new furnace.

STEELWORKS FIRE: Tata says blaze restricted to ‘confined area’ of Cold Mill
A separate fire at the site earlier this month.

PORT TALBOT: Tata Steel sets out demands for next Welsh Government
The wider £1.25bn transformation and its impact on jobs.

GREEN STEEL: Port Talbot’s £1.25bn furnace could be delayed by up to eight months over power hold-up

Tata Steel’s switch to “green steel” at Port Talbot could be delayed by up to eight months, the company has warned — because of problems connecting its new furnace to the power network.

The £1.25bn electric arc furnace, which will make lower-carbon steel by melting scrap rather than burning coal, was due to be running by the end of 2027 — replacing the blast furnaces that closed two years ago with the loss of around 2,000 jobs.

But the project now hinges on a major upgrade to the electricity network — and that work has hit problems.

The new furnace will melt scrap steel using huge amounts of electricity, rather than the coal-fired blast furnaces it replaces, and securing enough power is critical to the switch.

Tata is working with the National Grid to build the infrastructure needed to feed it.

The warning came from the company’s executive director and chief financial officer, Koushik Chatterjee, during a conference call with investors last month.

Chatterjee said major demolition work on the site had been completed and the project was progressing, but that “securing access to high power electricity is critical for our planned transition”.

He said the National Grid had “formally alerted us that their connectivity project is delayed”, and that Tata was in talks with the grid operator and the UK government to resolve the issue.

Asked how long the hold-up might be, he said: “Somewhat between, say, six months to eight months will certainly be there, maybe higher, after we have built the plant.”

In a statement, Tata said timelines for major projects “continue to evolve” as engineering, construction and infrastructure work progresses.

The company said it was discussing “potential adjustments to the commissioning timetable” with its partners to deliver the project “safely and as quickly as possible”.

The scale of the grid work is considerable. The National Grid said it involved building two new substations, installing transformers and laying 2km of underground cables.

It said issues with ground conditions, along with environmental and planning considerations, had contributed to the delays, but that “good progress” was being made.

Much of that work has already been visible across Port Talbot. Earlier this year the council approved a major expansion of a substation described as “nationally important” to the steel project.

Motorists have also faced up to a year of roadworks as the underground electricity network is upgraded to carry the extra load.

The delay is the latest twist in a turbulent period for the works, which is partway through a £1.25bn transformation that has already cost thousands of jobs.

The setback comes during a difficult spell for the works. Days earlier, a major fire tore through a processing line at the site, leaving part of a building collapsed.

The company said the blaze had forced its Hot Strip Mill offline, with a restart planned for the middle of next week, and that it was routing some work through its Llanwern site to keep supplies flowing to customers.

Tata says the electric arc furnace remains central to its plans for steelmaking in Port Talbot — but for now, the question is when, not if, it will fire up.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

PORT TALBOT: Tata Steel sets out demands for next Welsh Government
The backdrop of thousands of jobs lost as the £1.25bn transformation presses ahead.

‘Green power’ boost for Port Talbot as council green-lights major substation expansion
The substation upgrade central to powering the new electric furnace.

STEELWORKS FIRE: Tata says blaze restricted to ‘confined area’ of Cold Mill
A major fire tore through a processing line at the site days earlier.

‘Green power’ boost for Port Talbot as council green-lights major substation expansion

Neath Port Talbot Council has unanimously approved the major application from National Grid to extend the Margam 275kV substation, located just off Harbour Way.

The project is being hailed as a “key” development that will provide the essential power needed for Tata Steel’s new £1.25 billion electric arc furnace. It follows the appointment of Sir Robert McAlpine as the main contractor for the site’s decarbonisation.

This latest approval comes as Port Talbot motorists already face up to 12 months of roadworks while the wider underground electricity network is upgraded to support the transition.

Council bosses have confirmed that the extended site will connect via underground cables to a separate substation within the Tata Steelworks, feeding the new “green” furnace. Work has already begun on the furnace project, which aims to replace the traditional blast furnaces.

The works at the Margam site will include the construction of a new gas-insulated switchgear hall and a modern control building, replacing older facilities.

Planning officers have confirmed that the project also includes significant upgrades to site lighting, CCTV, and internal access roads, along with a new flood defence wall.

Cllr Rob Jones, representing Margam and Taibach, has described the extension as a “key project” that is essential for the survival of the local industry.

“Without this substation extension taking place… the whole future of steelmaking in Port Talbot and the county borough is at serious risk,” Cllr Jones has warned.

The council has confirmed that the approval is subject to a legal agreement to maintain an off-site ecological management area for the next 30 years to protect local wildlife.

While the substation does not directly supply residential homes in Margam, its role in supporting the major infrastructure upgrade is seen as critical for the region’s economic future.

The move marks another significant milestone for the electric arc furnace project, which was first approved by Neath Port Talbot Council in February 2025. The transition follows the dramatic closure of the Morfa Coke Plant and the blast furnaces, which saw thousands of jobs put at risk. Despite the £500m UK Government funding to support the move, the community continues to show resilience amid the transition.