The National Grid and its contractor Murphy Eltel Joint Venture have finished building a new 20km high-voltage electricity line — with 60 pylons — between Richborough and Canterbury, and 260km of high-voltage cables have been placed on the pylons and tested.

This paves the way for the final testing and commissioning of the Nemo Link undersea interconnector, which will allow electricity to flow both ways between the UK and Europe.

The Richborough Connection was necessary because there was previously no high-voltage network in the Richborough area to link the interconnector to the UK’s electricity grid.

The construction work involved more than 6,000 crane lifts to erect the pylons on a route that crosses eight roads, three rivers and three rail lines in its journey across Kent.

National Grid project director Graham Dola-more said: “The completion of the Richborough Connection is a significant milestone in the project to allow power to flow between Britain and Belgium from early this year, providing security of supply and greater opportunities for the UK to trade with wider European energy markets.”

More than 750,000 working hours were spent building the new overhead line. In addition, work was carried out by ABB and Siemens to upgrade Canterbury North sub-station and install equipment at the new Richborough sub-station.