National Grid buys Teesside land for what could be the UK’s largest substation

The 73-acre Dorman Point site sits next to a planned AI datacentre as Britain chases more computing capacity National Grid has bought land on Teesside for what could become Britain’s biggest electricity substation. The site sits beside a planned AI datacentre that will need an enormous amount of power. The deal covers 73 acres at Dorman Point, on land owned by Teesworks, a local private-public partnership. Sky News first reported the purchase. What National Grid is actually building National Grid Electricity Transmission finalized the purchase of approximately 29.5 hectares (73 acres). The project is expected to add more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of new electrical capacity. Local stakeholders have pointed to even bigger numbers. Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen is among those who have said the site could ultimately accommodate up to 3.2 GW. The substation falls under National Grid’s “Great Grid Upgrade,” its broad program to expand and modernize the transmission network. It is designed to feed an emerging private-wire network serving the nearby AI datacentre and a battery energy storage system. The paperwork and the timeline An outline planning application went to the local authority in Se...