National Grid has unveiled a major new initiative to overhaul how it works with suppliers, aiming to fast-track the delivery of £8 billion in substation infrastructure across England and Wales and strengthen the UK’s clean energy transition.

The initiative, known as the Electricity Transmission Partnership (ETP), marks a transformative shift toward long-term, regionally focused collaboration with suppliers. It replaces traditional short-term contracting with a performance-driven model that grants exclusive regional rights to trusted delivery partners, encouraging investment in local skills and supply chain resilience.

Under the ETP, National Grid plans to deliver around 130 substation projects over the next six years as part of its broader RIIO-T3 investment programme, which proposes up to £35 billion in upgrades to the UK’s transmission network by March 2031. The ETP alone will account for approximately £8 billion of that investment.

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In July, National Grid awarded regional delivery partner status to key suppliers, also allocating an initial £1.3 billion in exclusive substation work, with contracts to be finalised at a later date. The regional partners and their respective areas are:

• Balfour Beatty – North East

• Morgan Sindall Infrastructure – North West

• Murphy – South West (Region 1) and London & South East

• M Group Energy – South West (Region 2)

• OTW – Central West

These firms will have first refusal on future substation projects in their regions, providing commercial certainty to scale up their capacity and workforce.

Two additional national partners, Linxon and Burns & McDonnell, will support delivery of substation projects that fall outside regional allocations.

The ETP is designed not just to expedite project delivery, but also to drive up quality and sustainability. Suppliers will be rewarded based on long-term performance, with National Grid aiming to build enduring relationships that encourage innovation, efficiency, and local investment.

The new model complements other key initiatives in National Grid’s evolving infrastructure strategy, including the Great Grid Partnership (GGP) and the rollout of a high voltage direct current (HVDC) supply chain framework. Together, these programmes are intended to increase capacity, resilience, and flexibility across the UK’s transmission system.

National Grid said the ETP model could eventually be expanded beyond substations to cover a wider range of network infrastructure, reflecting a broader commitment to transforming how large-scale energy projects are delivered across the country.

This approach comes at a critical time for the UK's energy landscape, as the nation accelerates its shift to renewables and prepares the grid for an era of electrification and decarbonisation.