Pylons brought crashing down
THESE photographs show a pylon being demolished to make way for the “world’s first” electric T-pylons – set to provide low carbon energy for millions UK households.
Hundreds of the 32m high structures are being replaced on the bank of King’s Sedgemoor Drain, Somerset, as part of a National Grid project.
The new electricity pylons will be strung with cables to provide low carbon energy for around six million homes.
Video and photographs of the demolition of the decades-old pylons was taken by resident Jackie Curtis, who lives in the nearby village of Bawdip, on Monday morning.
Jackie said: “This is one of the many pylons being pulled down in Somerset to make way for the new line of T-pylons, which are being placed a mile away from this spot.
“These T-pylons are very different: they are much bigger and have a much denser structure than traditional pylons which you can see through.”
Unlike the ‘lattice’ structures of usual pylons, T-pylons have a single pole and T-shaped cross arms, which feature suspension diamond insulators – like ‘earrings’ – which hold the wires, or conductors.
There will be a total of 116 T-pylons along the whole 35-mile route, which will end at Avonmouth near Bristol.
The pylons are set to be ‘energised’ this autumn and a large part of their role will be carrying electricity from Hinkley Point C nuclear power station when it begins generating in June 2026.
Jackie, a 55-year-old artist printmaker inspired by the natural world, said: “I take a lot of photos around this area and am always looking for inspiration. In a lot of photos I’ve taken of this beautiful river the pylon has been in the background.
“I have been keeping up to date with the planned demolition so when one of my friends saw activity around the pylon, they called me and I rushed to the scene immediately. I do feel sorry for the cormorant birds though,” added Jackie, known on twitter as @jcurtisart.
“They used to hang on the pylon to rest their wings when it was cold in the winter – there would be at least 20 at a time. But I guess they are going to have to find some trees to sit in instead.”
In March, wires to carry low carbon energy onto the UK electricity network were installed on 36 of the Hinkley Connection Project’s new T-pylons in a process known as ‘stringing’.
The Hinkley Connection is made up of sections of traditional lattice pylons at Shurton and Avonmouth and the 116 new T-pylons, with a section of underground cable between Loxton and Sandford, running under the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Project director for National Grid James Goode said the T-pylons are about a third shorter than the traditional lattice towers.
“We’re massively proud that this is happening in Somerset because this is a world’s first,” he said.
He added: “The Hinkley Connection Project will be ready to connect six million homes and businesses in the South West and beyond with low-carbon electricity generated by Hinkley Point C and other sources of low-carbon energy in 2024, with the project complete, including reinstatement of the land, by the end of 2025.”