Coniston investment
We're delivering the largest ever investment in the North West’s power network, investing over £1bn between 2023 and 2028 – including a £16m to reinforce the power network in Coniston and surrounding areas to the benefit of all of Cumbria!
We're committed to maintaining and improving the power network through our capital network investment programme
SP Electricity North West will deliver a significant programme of work to increase the resilience and reliability of the electricity supply to Coniston and surrounding areas.
With an estimated investment of £16m, this project will provide a significant improvement to the area’s electricity network, reducing the occurrences of power cuts and supporting the additional demand to help Cumbria achieve its Net Zero ambitions and enable the take up of low carbon technologies such as electric vehicles, solar panels and heat pumps as well as supporting the region’s economic growth, transport and future electricity infrastructure needs.
These projects support undergrounding for visual amenity, the worst served customer programme and the Storm Arwen fund.
In November 2021 amid Storm Arwen, supplies were lost to Coniston for a considerable period of time. The work we are progressing will increase the resilience of the supply to Coniston primary power network.
The work includes:
* A new 11,000-volt circuit installed between Coniston & Ambleside to provide additional interconnection in case of a power outage to the 33,000-volt supply.
* Undergrounding of 10 kilometres of the 33,000-volt overhead line between Ulverston and Coniston.
* Replacement of 10 kilometres of 33,000-volt overhead line and poles between Ulverston and Coniston.
* Undergrounding the 11,000-volt overhead line which runs across Blawith Fell to improve the visual amenity of the area as well as improving the resilience of the network.
Thousands of homes, businesses and tourists will benefit from the new electricity infrastructure across Ambleside, Coniston, Ulverston and Blawith and also help Cumbria achieve its Net Zero targets and support economic growth to connect to low carbon technologies such as electric vehicle chargers, solar panels and heat pumps. We’re strengthening business resilience to ensure continuity for local enterprises, especially those dependent on consistent energy.