National Grid has announced that work has begun on the new Hylton Castle substation, which will connect nearby gigafactories and other businesses to the electricity grid.

The 275kV Hylton Castle substation is being built at the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) in Sunderland. The hope is to have it complete and energised in 2026.

The substation will provide a new grid connection for Nissan, AESC UK and Sunderland City Council’s ambitious EV36Zero electric vehicle (EV) hub at IAMP, which includes EV manufacture, battery production and a renewable energy microgrid.

In November 2023, Nissan announced that it would invest an additional £2bn into its Sunderland manufacturing plant to produce three EV models, meaning the EV36Zero hub will now consist of three gigafactories.

Construction on AESC UK’s nearby 15.8GWh battery manufacturing gigafactory began in 2022; once complete, it will produce lithium-ion batteries that are designed to be directly used by UK carmakers in next-generation...