National Grid are to construct a substation and a 400kV power line to connect with the existing grid somewhere between Oswestry and Shrewsbury.
SPEN are to construct the power lines from the wind farms to the substation.
I understand that it is National Grid?s decision on which substation and which corridor should be used.
My question is this. In making the decision, does National Grid have to take into account the impact on the area on the SPEN side of the connection? And also do they have to take into account the overall efficiency of the connection from the wind farm to the National Grid or do they only have to look at the section between the hub and the grid?
The reason for my question is that if they only look at the connection from the hub to the grid then they may get one answer but if they look at the overall system from the wind farms to the grid then they may get another. For example they may select a particular hub and a particular corridor because that is the shortest route. But it might mean that the connections from the wind farms to the hub are all much longer leading to an inefficient network overall and that the impact on communities might be greater overall.

Thank you for your email. I can confirm that through the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) there is a requirement the promoter under Schedule 3 of the Infrastructure Planning (Environmental Impacts Assessment) Regulations 2009 have an awareness of any cumulative impacts from other developments in the area. Further information on the Environmental Impact Assessment can be found through the following link:
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With regards to your queries surrounding the process that National Grid have adopted in determining their proposal, I suggest that these are raised directly with the promoter of the Mid Wales Connection scheme. The National Grid project team can be contacted on 0800 019 5325 or by email at national [email protected].