Six electricity tower designs vie for spot in UK's future grid

A new energy infrastructure will need a new type of pylon — or electricity tower — to transmit that power to homes and businesses, and the UK is trying to decide what those pylons will look like.

Since launching a pylon design contest earlier this year, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and National Grid have pored through 250 proposals from designers around the world to come up with a list of six finalists. Those half-dozen designs are now on display at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum through Oct. 5, during which members of the public can offer their comments via the pylon competition website.

“Britain will see the equivalent of twenty new power stations constructed by 2020, and we need to use electricity pylons to get this new, low-carbon energy to your televisions and toasters, dishwashers and DVD players,” said Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne. “We must make sure that we take into account the visual impact on the landscape and also the view of the public, and this is what the pylon design competition is all about.”

To coincide with the pylon design display, National Grid has also published its new approach to building new transmission infrastructure. Using this approach, National Grid will put greater emphasis on mitigating the visual impact of its new electricity lines, while balancing this with the need to minimize household energy bills.

“Connecting Britain’s new power stations to our homes and businesses will be one of the great infrastructure challenges of the next decade and beyond,” said Nick Winser, National Grid’s executive director UK. “Through the use of new technology, pylon design, extensive consultation and undergrounding where appropriate, our new approach will ensure we consider very seriously the visual impact of new transmission lines.”

Comments by the public on the pylon design finalists will be taken into account by a judging panel, which is set to make its final decision later in October.