Network Rail Considering Selling Power Assets
Network Rail has taken the first step towards seeing if there is interest in buying its power assets from the industry.
A consultation document released last week could see Network Rail’s thousands of miles of overhead lines and 120 substations being leased or sold to private firms.
Network Rail said the decision to test the electrical power assets was designed to “maximise commercial opportunities and inject private capital into the railway to help fund investment”.
The state-owned company is looking at new ways of increasing revenue in order to plug its £42bn debt.
Cables Failing To Comply
Cables are being offered for use, and in some instances installed, that fail to comply with standards they claim to meet, the Approved Cables Initiative (ACI) has warned.
ACI was set up to highlight the dangers of unsafe, substandard, non-approved and counterfeit cable to the cable supply industry. Working with the Health & Safety Executive and Trading Standards, the ACI reports issues of substandard cable for further investigation and follow up.
The organisation says it continues finding evidence of cables being used and offered for use in UK fixed wiring applications that claim to meet UK Wiring Regulations (BS 7671) or other standards but do not comply when tested.
ACI urges cable purchasers and users to be vigilant over the problem.
Offshore Wind Farms
All 48 wind turbines at the 144MW Westermeerwind wind farm, developed in the shallow waters of IJsselmeer in the Netherlands, have been installed.
The wind farm is now being tested before it is connected to the grid. The project has taken a year to complete.
In the German North Sea at Dong Energy’s 582MW Gode Wind 1 & 2 offshore wind farm, CT Offshore completed its installation of inter-array cables.
The company said its new purpose-built subsea trencher was able to sucessfully bury all of the 97 cables.
