Murphy appointed to National Grid’s £8bn ETP

The Electricity Transmission Partnership (ETP) is a transformative new approach, designed to accelerate the delivery of £8 billion worth of vital substation infrastructure across England and Wales and support the UK’s clean energy transition.

It remodels how National Grid engages with suppliers, moving to a longer term collaborative approach that builds strong regional partnerships and rewards partners for high quality performance over time.

The initiative awards regional exclusivity of substation work to ETP partners based on how well they perform and their commitment to expanding their capacity, an approach that aims to strengthen the UK supply chain, encourage long term investment, and support the development of local skills and capability.

It also marks a major boost to National Grid’s ambitious RIIO-T3 investment plan, which proposes up to £35 billion investment in the transmission network in England and Wales over the five years to March 2031, including to build new substations or upgrade existing ones.

As part of the ETP, National Grid expects to award around £8 billion worth of substation construction work over the RIIO-T3 period, covering multiple regions and around 130 projects.

In July National Grid awarded regional delivery partner status to several successful suppliers, as well as allocating an initial £1.3 billion worth of exclusive work whose contracts will be awarded at a later stage.

Regional delivery partners include:

• Murphy – South west (region one) and London & south east region
• M Group – South west (region two)
• OTW – Central west region
• Balfour Beatty – North east region
• Morgan Sindall Infrastructure – North west region

The awards mean partners will have first refusal of future substation work in the pipeline in their region, providing them with the certainty they need to invest in growth and capability.

Two national partners, Linxon and Burns & McDonnell, will support delivery of substation work that falls outside the scope of the regional partners’ portfolios.

The ETP complements other pioneering initiatives in National Grid’s evolving supply chain ecosystem, including the Great Grid Partnership (GGP) and a new high voltage direct current (HVDC) supply chain framework. Together, these programmes are designed to provide greater capacity and resilience across multiple infrastructure construction portfolios.

The ETP model has the potential to be expanded beyond substations in future to include other network infrastructure, ensuring a consistent and innovative approach to bolstering supply chain across National Grid’s entire transmission network in England and Wales.

Liam Corr, Energy Managing Director at Murphy, said: “Murphy is proud to be a part of this new partnership, which builds on our existing strong relationship with National Grid. Our company purpose is to improve life by delivering world-class infrastructure, and the ETP framework sets out to do just this – reinforcing Britain’s transmission network for the benefit of all who live here.”

Alice Delahunty, president of National Grid Electricity Transmission, said: “Our Electricity Transmission Partnership marks a bold shift in how we deliver vital electricity infrastructure. By adopting a regional, long-term approach, we’re giving our supply chain the certainty to invest in people, skills and innovation. It’s a key step in turning our RIIO-T3 investment ambitions into action and building a resilient grid to support Britain’s clean energy future.”

Energy Minister Michael Shanks said: “The clean energy transition is the economic opportunity of the 21st century, with the potential to revitalise our industrial heartlands with skilled jobs and economic growth. This £8 billion partnership from National Grid is proof of that – providing a boost for Britain’s supply chains, investing in the future of our highly skilled workforce and helping to deliver clean, homegrown power that we control.”

Pictured: (L-R) Andy Ernest (National Grid VP procurement), Dale Ward (National Grid Head of Construction Strategy), Nick Fletcher (Murphy UK MD), Mark Lissimore (National Grid Director of Infrastructure Delivery) and Liam Corr (Murphy Energy MD).