Powerful £2.6 million investment in Dover

A £2.6 million project is under way, spearheaded by UK Power Networks, to upgrade essential electricity infrastructure which keeps the lights shining brightly in Dover.

New equipment, called switchgear, has been installed inside a purpose-built switch-house at the company's existing substation in the town. The company is replacing equipment that is due for renewal to help safeguard power supplies for thousands of customers locally.

A team of about a dozen experts are carefully working to transfer all the electrical systems and circuits at the substation from the old equipment to the new. Work began on the project in January last year and all the new equipment is due to be live by September.

The site receives electricity via overhead power lines and underground cables at 33,000 volts and converts it to 11,000 volts. At this lower voltage, electricity is delivered across the area through a vast network of underground cables bringing power to the customers' doorstep.

Project manager Simon Collingwood said: "The equipment we are replacing has served Dover well over the years but we are constantly investing to renew our equipment for the benefit of customers. This investment is to help ensure we maintain safe, secure electricity supplies, reducing the likelihood and duration of power interruptions. Once all the new equipment is up and running, it will be an essential part of the infrastructure that enables people across a wide area to go about their daily lives using the electricity that we all depend upon."

The 24 panels of new 11,000 volts switchgear look similar to computer data centre panels, with buttons and flashing lights. Each one is about 8ft tall and 4ft wide and together they weigh about 2.4 tonnes. Although it is bulky, the equipment is lighter and easier for the engineers to work with. Special equipment was used to lift the switchgear on to a frame, to which it is bolted. Following tests, the switchgear is gradually connected to the existing electricity network in stages.

All the equipment can be remotely operated from the company's control centre to reconnect power supplies as quickly as possible when there is a power interruption. The new equipment will also be ready to accommodate future growth in demand for electricity in the area.

Metal from the old switchgear will be taken away and recycled.

The work in Dover is part of UK Power Networks' £360 million investment this year in the electricity networks it owns and operates in the South East, London and East of England. During the five years to 2015, the company plans to implement infrastructure investments of approximately £1.8 billion across its power networks.