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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Jillian Ambrose

‘It’s like buying an iPhone and not having a cable’: UK’s bid for net zero in the balance due to grid ‘blind spot’

Power cables being manufactured
Power cables being manufactured at an Italian-owned factory: the UK will need thousands of miles of new wires by 2040 Photograph: Prysmian

From next year, engineers will need to roll out more than 100km (62 miles) of electric cabling every day until 2040 if the government hopes to power the UK towards its climate goals, according to new data.

Analysis of Britain’s existing power grids and the country’s predicted electricity demand reveals that within the next 17 years, more than 600,000km of electric lines will need to be either added or upgraded across the UK.

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