£12m project in Shropshire keeps homes switched on

ScottishPower Energy Networks is carrying out its biggest regional project at Oswestry in Shropshire – upgrading its 132,000-volt substation.

The construction work, which has been taking place just off the town's bypass for two years, will replace the existing electrical infrastructure at the Whittington Road Substation.

The complex has served not only Oswestry but large parts of north Shropshire, Welshpool and Newtown for over 50 years, since the original electrification in 1953. It is also seeing the installation of the most advanced technology in the industry to benefit the 130,000 customers that are served by the major power hub.

Jigsaw.

The project is scheduled for completion later this year and on Friday one of the last pieces in the construction jigsaw – the second transformer – is expected to arrive on a low loader.

After that the work will be mainly commissioning the new substation and putting in a more unusual feature – a landscaped pond for the site's wildlife, which includes great crested newts.

Scottish Power staff heading up the project include Mark Sobczak, Programme Manager for SP Energy Networks, and Frank Davies, both of whom live in the area.

"If our customers' lights go out, then ours go out as well," Mark said.

Substations are where electricity lines are connected and switched and where the voltage is changed by transformers.

The aim is to ensure that its 130,000 customers in Shropshire and North Powys have a 'resilient' electricity supply.

The Oswestry substation was built in 1953 – and much of the equipment comes from the 1960s. Electricity feeding into the Oswestry substation comes from the National Grid's main substation at Legacy on the outskirts of Wrexham.

Mr Sobczak said the aim was to ensure the security of the power supply to homes and businesses, from the large factories of Chirk and the farms of north Shropshire to the population of Oswestry and across the Welsh border through Welshpool and Newtown to Llanidloes.

He said the substation was like a body. The different spurs to the smaller areas are the "nervous system", while the "brain" is the bank of huge cabinets inside the brick building. Rebuilding the substation means that Scottish Power can isolate power supplies to ensure that, if there is a problem, the fewest number of people are affected and for the shortest time possible.

Two power lines travel south to Welshpool. "If you think of it as a motorway then we have the motorway that is used every day and one in reserve alongside," said Mr Sobczak. "If there is a problem the supply can be switched, automatically, within a couple of minutes.

"The days of thousands of customers in an area being without power as thankfully very rare now as we can isolate the problem to very small areas."

As well as the replacement of the existing 132,000 volt switchgear and associated transformers, the equipment serving the smaller spurs is also being replaced.

On top of the £12m substation project, Scottish Power is bringing a third overhead line into the complex from its Legacy station on the edge of Wrexham.

While work has been taking place, those behind the construction say customers should not notice any changes as the switchover from one system to another continues.

And anyone who thinks the seemingly endless roadworks outside the substation are connected should think again. "Those were Severn Trent's work on water pipes," site manager Daryl Fisher said.