LITTLE HORSTED, England, April 24, 2026, 12:56 BST
- National Grid plc reported that its Little Horsted substation, located in East Sussex, has been brought online and is fully operational.
- With roughly 0.5 gigawatts of added transmission capacity, the site could power some 480,000 homes.
- This project falls under the broader £2.7 billion South East network investment plan, which covers the years 2026 to 2031.
National Grid plc has fired up its Little Horsted substation in East Sussex, bringing an extra 0.5 gigawatts online for Britain’s grid. The company says the new site, positioned along the pylons running from Bolney to Ninfield, can supply energy for as many as 480,000 homes — a boost that lands as the South East sees power connection requests climb.
Timing is crucial here. Britain’s power grid faces mounting pressure as it takes on more load from renewable energy, fresh residential development, electric vehicles, and expanded local networks. At the same time, regulators are insisting that network operators push through upgrades, but without allowing expenses to spiral.
Little Horsted’s launch gives UK Power Networks, the local DNO, a boost as electricity demand climbs in the area. DNOs handle the switch from high-voltage transmission down to the local networks serving homes and businesses. National Grid pegged this project as just one slice of the £2.7 billion they’re set to spend in the South East between 2026 and 2031.
The project arrives in the wake of RIIO-3, Ofgem’s latest five-year price control, which kicked off April 1. RIIO — Revenues = Incentives + Innovation + Outputs — determines how much monopoly network firms can charge customers and spells out what they’re required to deliver over the stretch from April 2026 through March 2031.
National Grid reported a record for electricity connections in 2025, hooking up 2.4 GW of new generation to the transmission system and roughly 0.5 GW of demand. That tally includes capacity for the distribution network, like Little Horsted. Construction of the substation ran for two years and required shifting some 65,000 cubic metres of earth—later reused at locations in Polegate and Horsham.
The company took delivery of two 178-tonne supergrid transformers in October 2024, hauling them 27 miles from Shoreham Port in Brighton. These transformers handle voltage changes on the high-voltage grid, making it possible to transfer electricity between the transmission network and local systems.
Paul Alchin, who manages the project for National Grid, described the site as “operational and connected.” Crews will be pulling out in the coming months, wrapping up with tree planting, hedgerow installation, and restoring the land. Paul Maslen, project manager at UK Power Networks, pointed to the substation’s role in delivering “increased energy capacity.” Tony Wilson, managing director for Balfour Beatty’s Power Transmission and Distribution arm, highlighted support for “reliability and resilience” across the South East. National Grid
National Grid stands among Britain’s top-listed utility firms, operating electricity transmission and distribution in Great Britain, plus electricity and gas networks across the US Northeast. The company’s UK transmission division controls high-voltage networks in England and Wales.
It’s regulation driving the competition here, not direct rivalry. National Grid, SSE’s SSEN Transmission, and ScottishPower Transmission are each scrambling to deliver on grid expansion targets tied to Ofgem’s sign-off. ScottishPower flagged up to £12 billion earmarked in its RIIO-T3 investment plan, while SSEN Transmission counts 11 major transmission projects either in progress or moving forward.
National Grid rose 1.03% to 1,300.40 pence by 12:41 BST in London, with almost 3 million shares changing hands, LSEG data showed, as reported by Investors Chronicle. The stock is up roughly 20.9% over the past year.
Delivery risk still hangs over the project. National Grid pointed out that an overhead line circuit tied to Little Horsted remains on the to-do list for a future upgrade, while UK Power Networks isn’t likely to wrap up most work at the neighboring substation before spring 2027. Schedules remain vulnerable to weather, land restoration, and other local hurdles along the way.
Right now, Little Horsted’s switch-on hands National Grid something concrete—useful as it tries to show that grid upgrades are advancing beyond proposals and regulatory hurdles and are actually being built. The tougher question: will the upcoming projects hit the ground quickly enough to ease congestion, and do it without piling extra costs onto bills?
