58: summary of the Electricity Networks NPS in four sentences and an extra consultation

This is entry number 58, first published on 16 November 2009, of a blog on the implementation of the Planning Act 2008. Click here for a link to the whole blog. If you would like to receive blog updates by email, click here.

This entry summarises the draft Electricity Networks National Policy Statement (EN-5).

On Monday 9 November, the government published in draft for consultation the first seven of an eventual 12 National Policy Statements (NPSs). When finalised, these will form the basis for the consideration of applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) by the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC). As well as summarising the NPS, today’s entry also highlights a separate and foreshortened consultation relating to electricity networks.

The draft NPS is here and is only 19 pages long. It should be read in conjunction with the Overarching Energy NPS (EN-1), which deals with matters that affect all energy projects. Here are four salient points that summarise the Electricity Networks NPS:

Need - paragraphs 2.3.3-4:

To demonstrate need, the applicant should show that the project is:

• wholly or substantially supported by connection agreements or contracts (i.e. is to connect particular generating stations),
• is based on reasonably anticipated future requirements (i.e. significant extra generation or load are likely), or
• would make a significant contribution to the promotion of renewable energy, climate change objectives or security of energy supply.

Impacts - from paragraphs 2.6.1-2:

The amplified impacts of electric lines that the IPC should consider (over and above those in EN-1) are landscape and visual, and noise; and the additional impact it should consider is that of electric and magnetic fields (EMFs).

Routeing - from paragraph 2.7.3:

‘The IPC should recognise that [the Holford Rules] form the basis for the approach to routeing new overhead lines’.

Undergrounding - from paragraph 2.7.7:

‘The IPC should take into account that the cost of undergrounding electricity cables is between ten and twenty times as much per unit length as for an overhead line’.

In a separate but related development, last week the government launched an additional consultation on overhead electric line projects. This considers whether to exclude certain minor works from the definition of a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) consisting of overhead electric lines. Such works are already excluded from the existing Electricity Act regime that the Planning Act will replace, and this was presumably overlooked when NSIPs were defined in the Planning Act. The works that are to be excluded are those such as essential maintenance and emergency repairs – their full descriptions are in these regulations.

The consultation page is here and the consultation closes on 8 December 2009. This consultation, at only four weeks, is therefore considerably shorter than the recommended 12-week minimum. The reason given is so that the regulations can be in force by the date that the IPC will start receiving applications of 1 March 2010 (which may be a reason for the end point, but not the start point!).