Welcome
At National Grid, our job is to connect people to the energy they use, whether to heat and light homes, or to keep factories and offices running. As old power stations close we need to join new sources of energy to our network, so that electricity continues to be available to us all at the flick of a switch.
One of these new sources of energy is a proposed high-voltage electricity link between Belgium and Richborough near Sandwich in Kent, known as the Nemo Link®. There is no high-voltage National Grid electricity network in the Richborough area, so we will need to build a new connection to join Richborough to our existing network approximately 20km away, near Canterbury. This new project is called the ‘Richborough Connection’.
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In January 2016, we applied for consent to build a new 400 kV overhead line connection between Richborough and Canterbury. This is needed to join Nemo Link® (an electricity link between Herdersbrug in Bruges and Richborough, near Sandwich in the UK) to our high voltage electricity network. New connections like this are vital to ensure the country has a safe, reliable and secure electricity supply to keep the lights on.
Over the last six months, a panel of four inspectors (the Examining Authority) appointed by the Planning Inspectorate (the Government Agency responsible for nationally significant infrastructure project planning applications) has examined our application. As part of this process, a series of hearings took place, where stakeholders, landowners, tenants and members of the public provided feedback on our application.
The examination process has now come to an end and we would like to thank everyone for their feedback during this process and for giving us your views since the start of the project. You can find full details of our application, including copies of all of our studies, reports, and maps on the Planning Inspectorate’s website: http://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/south-east/richborough-connection-project/. You can find audio transcripts of the hearings and all of the examination documents.