Sparkhill gains a new lease of life

The electricity network in Sparkhill area of Birmingham has had a £4.5million investment to boost power supplies to the area.

This new initiative has involved the replacement of two 132,000 volt underground cables that were reaching the end of their working life. Around 4km of new cables have been laid between major substations on Hillock Road and Adderley Park which will help to further safeguard supply reliability to around 60,000 customers in the Sparkhill area.

The new cables, which took nine months to install, have now been commissioned enabling around 800metres of old cables to be removed along the Grand Union Canal. WPD has also been working with the Canals and River Trust to upgrade the cycle path, following the removal of the cables.

“It ensures that we can provide a high level of service to these areas in the long term by improving the infrastructure and security of our electricity network,” said Nigel Morrey, WPD’s Projects Team Manager for the area.

The project forms part of WPD’s commitment to provide a consistently high level of service to customers. Around £7 billion is being invested by the company on its electricity network between 2015 and 2023.