Representation by Frank Cooke
- Date submitted
- 8 May 2024
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Before retiring I was a Registered European Engineer, Chartered Engineer, Member of the the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Engineering Technology (via Membership of the institution of Electrical Engineers), Eur.Ing., C.Eng., MICE., MIET. I was employed as a Project Engineer by the National Grid on substation construction and underground cable construction, including the £62m Nunthorpe to Newby 400kv cable. With knowledge gained by my experience I have asked the lead personnel of the Byers Gill project questions and never received satisfactory answers. My basic objection is that the scheme is too fragmented, meaning that there are excessive cable runs and with that far too many joint bays, which will cause disruption to traffic and local life. Failure of High Voltage cables is usually at, or near, joint bays. By increasing the number of joint bays the chances of failure increases, meaning returns to site for repairs and disruption to roads and traffic. I have asked what the cable types will be single core cables, or multicore cables, this will determine the number and size of joint bays. I have asked how long each cable run will be between joint bays, this will determine how long each trench will be open and will depend on the cable size and cable drum capacity, it is probable that the cable trench either side of a joint bay will be left open during jointing. and up to twice the cable drum length of trench open, this could be several hundred metres at any one time. I have asked the size of joint bays and will this vary if the cable sizes increase as it collects more energy as it progresses westward. It could be that roads will have to be closed if the joint bays are wide and require safe working areas around them. I have also asked why the whole network cannot connect into the existing 132kV line which runs adjacent to the project, via an onsite substation. I have also queried the estimates of increased traffic and from personal experience I know these are always underestimates and can be double or triple of the estimated volumes, increasing disruption to local communities. There does not appear to be any consultation between this project and the other 2 solar energy projects between Bishopton and the Norton substation, meaning that there is a possibility that the road network running through all 3 schemes will be affected for 5 to 10 years. I have asked these questions of the lead personnel of the project on at least 3 separate occasions and they have not been able to give answers to these basic questions. The basic objection alone, that the scheme is too fragmented, should be ground to rejection of the application. Frank Cooke