£10bn more work for Electricity Alliance contractors

National Grid's Electricity Alliance contractors are to reap the benefits of an additional £10bn of work aimed at upgrading the grid to take on new nuclear and offshore windpower sources.

The additional funding is on top of the National Grid’s existing £13.2bn UK capital spending programme, which runs from 2006 to 2012. The money consists of an extra £1.2bn towards the capital expenditure programme and £5bn to £9bn, which will be needed to hook up the UK ’s new nuclear and offshore wind farms.

A National Grid spokeswoman said the firm’s Electricity Alliance Partnership was expected to deliver the additional work and that there were no plans to take on more contractors. “The contract runs from 2007 for five years with an option to renew for another five years,” she added.

The 15 Alliance partnership members include Balfour Beatty; Skanska; Morrisons;  Morgan Est; Atkins; and Murphy.

Chief executive Steve Holliday said the increased spend reflected the need to upgrade the UK ’s gas and electrical-distribution grid.

 “You’ve got to go back to when the national grid was first constructed in the 1950s and 1960s for a comparison,” he said. “We’re seeing growth beyond anything experienced previously.”

The details of the firm’s spending plans will be published this week.