The village of Sydenham is ready for winter following the completion of works by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) to upgrade the local infrastructure and boost the resilience of the area's power supply.
The hundreds of local residents and business owners situated in the Oxfordshire village and civil parish will benefit from SSEN's £316,000 investment in the local infrastructure, that has involved the undergrounding of the overhead cable network supplying power to those who live and work locally.
This final stage of the programme of works was carried out to complement automation previously installed on Sydenham's network; a system which greatly improves restoration times in the event of faults by quickly switching supplies to unaffected sections of the nearby network. In addition to helping the village's network to stand up to adverse weather, the improvement works will also address the needs of local residents and businesses as the UK moves towards its net-zero ambitions.
John Wright, Network Construction Manager for the Sydenham project said:
"As well as ensuring a safe and reliable electricity network for Sydenham for years to come by undergrounding the village's cables, SSEN is looking to the future of the local area and what those needs will look like over the coming years."
"Sydenham's upgrade works are part of our ongoing network investment programme that will ultimately build a strong, resilient power supply for Oxfordshire communities; helping the area achieve its net-zero ambitions and forming part of our commitment to taking a "you said, we did" approach to investing in our vital infrastructure."
"As more of our customers turn to using electric vehicles, SSEN needs to ensure that communities have a supply and infrastructure that's fit for purpose now and fit for the future, as it adapts to differing needs."
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) expects electricity demand to double by 2050 as more and more customers shift to electric vehicles (EV) and heating. SSEN is working to understand the ambitions of the communities it serves, and to enable this transition. SSEN has published Accelerating a Green Recovery setting out ten measures for the Government to ensure no communities are left behind in the transition to net zero carbon emissions.