By the end of 2009/10 the power system in great Britain will be made up of 161 large

power stations, the 400kV and 275kV transmission system (and 132kV transmission
system in Scotland) and 14 distribution systems.

And the GB transmission system includes:

1) Overhead lines
Circuit kilometres of overhead lines which are normally energised and in service:
400kV 11,634km
275kV 5,766km
132kV & below 5,254km
Total 22,654km

2) Underground Cables
Circuit kilometres of underground cable which are normally energised and in service:
400kV 195km
275kV 498km
132kV & below 216km
DC (Channel Link) 327km
Total 1,236km

3) Substations
Transmission system facilities where voltage transformation or switching takes place:
400kV 163
275kV 127
132kV & below 395
Total 685

4) Power transformers and Quadrature Boosters (QBs)

Power transformers and QBs which are normally energised and in service:
Note: 132kV was assumed to be LV in England & Wales, but not in Scotland.
400/275kV 110
400/132kV 10 (SPT only)
275/132kV 46 (SHETL & SPT only)
400/LV 243 (NGET only and includes 400/132kV units)
275/LV 441
132/LV 290
QBs 20
Total 1160

5) Grid Supply Points

Points where electrical supplies are provided to Users:
Note: 132kV & 66kV were assumed to be Supply Voltages in England & Wales, but
not in Scotland.
132kV 151
66kV 23
33kV and below 172
Total 346
 The majority of Large power stations are directly connected to the GB transmission
system. However, several Large power stations are embedded within the lower
voltage distribution networks. Medium and Small power stations are currently all
embedded within the distribution networks.

Energy use:
Our non-generation energy use is dominated by our gas-fuelled compressors on our UK
gas transmission network. Other major users of gas and electricity are our LNG sites and
the isle of grain LNG import terminal. During 208/09, we used approximately 4.9 billion
kWh of gas and electricity across our operations. In addition, our US generating facilities
used approximately 16.6 billion kWh of gas and 460 million Litres of fuel oil.

SF6:
Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) is an extremely effective electrical insulant and has very
significant advantages over alternative materials. It is non-flammable, a critical
requirement in the high-voltage applications for which we use it, and because of its
effectiveness, takes up less volume than an equivalent insulating volume of an oil
alternative. Equipment filled with SF6 can leak and requires replacement.

SF6 is a greenhouse gas and one tonne is equivalent to approximately 23,900 tonnes of
carbon dioxide. Reported gas loss, as an absolute amount and (percentage of inventory)
was14.7 tonnes (2.6%) in 2008/09 compared with 18.8 tonnes (3.5%) in 2007/08.

SF6 leak problem:

As part of National Grid’s vision statement we as a company are committed to

“safeguarding our global environment for future generations” and as a significant area of
pollution SF6 usage is a specific performance measurement and all usage is monitored
and reported.
National Grid is reviewing new technologies and repair methods to reduce escapes and
where appropriate these advances are being used to tackle leaks on licensed and
unlicensed assets.
As part of the maintenance works undertaken by our site teams there is often the need to
top-up customer owned SF6 insulated assets. Whilst this is not reported as direct usage
by National Grid this does fall within the work of UKES and allows us to discuss
significant leaks with our customers with a view to supporting repair works.

Repairs have been undertaken on behalf of Central Networks and RWE NPower in
support of their efforts to reduce escapes and evidence our commitment to reducing SF6
usage.
Our generating facilities in the US are our only material source of SOx. Prior to 2008/09,
our Sox emissions from our UK gas transmission network and LNG facilities averaged
around 3 tonnes per year

Climate change:
National Grid has set itself a challenging target of reducing company wide greenhouse
gas emissions by 80% by 2050. To help us achieve this goal, we have set ourselves a mid
term reduction target of 45% by 2020, and from April 2009 we’re introducing carbon
budgets across our UK and US electricity and gas businesses.