Balfour Beatty in £1.2bn deal with America's National Grid

Balfour Beatty has set more sparks flying in America with the announcement that it has been selected as a preferred provider, in joint venture, for a £1.2bn spend by the US National Grid on overhead line and sub-station electrical work for new build projects

The five-year contract involves building substations and transmission lines in the New England region – namely Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

Work will be carried out by the New Energy Alliance which is a joint venture between Balfour Beatty and MJ Electric, a Quanta Services company.

Contract award is conditional on reaching agreement on commercial terms. It is expected to be finalised by 1 April.

There is also an option to extend the alliance for a further three years after the initial five-year period.

Ian Tyler, Balfour’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have been selected to play a major role in National Grid's capital programme in the United States. We look forward to working in partnership with MJ Electric.”

Masheed Saidi, National Grid's chief executive for U.S. Transmission, said: “These contracts will help us reinforce the backbone of our electricity grid.

“Given the magnitude of our investment programme, we needed to look at innovative approaches to secure the resources and deliver the programme.”

National Grid is one of Balfour’s key infrastructure clients in the UK.

In 2005 Balfour signed a partnership contract with National Grid for the eight-year Greater Manchester Alliance gas mains network contract worth £380m.

In 2007, Balfour Beatty also signed a contract for a five-year alliance, likely to be worth approximately £550m, to upgrade and develop the electricity transmission network in the eastern half of England.  

M.J. Electric specialises in electrical construction and maintenance. Quanta delivers infrastructure network solutions for the electric power, natural gas, telecommunications and cable television industries.