National Transmission System

The United Kingdom's National Transmission System (NTS) is the network of gas pipelines that supply gas to forty power stations from natural gas terminals situated on the coast and to gas distribution companies that supply homes and other users.

History

North Sea Gas was first brought ashore in the UK in 1967, after which NTS was built by British Gas. Before this, gas came locally from municipal gasworks. Most of the system was built in the 1970s and early 1980s. In February 1997, British Gas split into two units. The NTS became owned by BG plc. In October 2000 ownership moved to the de-merged Lattice Group. In October 2002, the Lattice Group merged with National Grid.

Operation

NTS is the starting point for UK gas distribution. The pipeline system for houses is not part of the NTS, but the two systems combine to form the UKs gas distribution network.

The two types of gas pipelines in the UK are: large diameter high-pressure (up to 85^[1] bar and 600mm^[2] diameter) pipelines - the type that the NTS uses, and smaller diameter lower pressure pipelines that connect to users who burn gas for heat.

The NTS has over 7,600km of welded steel gas pipeline with twenty five (mostly gas turbine driven) compressor stations and over 25 pressure regulators. Gas moves through the system at speeds up to 25 mph depending on pressures and pipeline diameters.

Compressor stations include:

England - Wooler, Bishop Auckland, Carnforth, Nether Kellett, Warrington, Hatton, Alrewas, Wisbech, King's Lynn, Peterborough, Churchover, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Diss, Chelmsford, Aylesbury, Lockerley and Wormington.
Scotland - Aberdeen, Avonbridge, Kirriemuir, Moffat and St Fergus

Entry

Gas enters the system via the seven UK gas terminals (six in England and one in Scotland) and various storage facilities. These include a mixture of salt cavity and LNG storage sites (onshore) and the depleted oil field at Rough (offshore).

Gas distribution network

Companies that own part of this gas network, also known as the Local Transmission System (LTS), are known officially as Gas Transporters. Gas enters this network via the NTS through a pressure reduction station to the twelve gas distribution zones in England, Scotland and Wales within eight distribution networks. The network covers 275,000 km (171,000 mi). The LTS is managed from Hinckley, Leicestershire (former headquarters of the NTS). Financial transactions between gas transporters are managed by Xoserve, based in Solihull. It was formerly an internal department of National Grid and then became an independent company.

For retail distribution, National Grid plc (this division is based in Northampton) owns the network in North West England, the West Midlands, the East Midlands, the East of England and North London. In the North of England, local distribution is owned by Northern Gas Networks; in the Wales and West by Wales and West Utilities; and in Southern England and Scotland by SGN.

National Grid plc

NTS is managed by National Grid plc (NG), the same company that manages the country's National Grid for electricity transmission. NG is administratively based in Warwick. While NG owns the gas transmission system in England, Wales and Scotland, electrical distribution in Scotland is owned by two Scottish companies.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is not part of the NTS per se and gets its gas via the Scotland-Northern Ireland pipeline (SNIP) owned by Premier Transmission and built between 1994 and 1996. The gas network in Northern Ireland is split, with one area owned by Phoenix Natural Gas and the other by Firmus Energy.

External links

References

Energy in the United Kingdom

Companies

Coal

Oil and gas

Integrated	BG Group BP Royal Dutch Shell

Exploration and production	Afren BHP Billiton Cairn Energy Centrica Dana Petroleum Desire Petroleum Emerald Energy EnQuest Essar Energy Falkland Oil and Gas Hardy Oil and Gas JKX Oil & Gas Melrose Resources Ophir Energy Perenco Premier Oil Regal Petroleum Rockhopper Exploration SOCO International Star Energy Tullow Oil

Supply	Greenergy Murco Petroleum

Support	Abbot Group AMEC Ensco Expro Hunting Petrofac Qserv Score Group Weir Group WesternGeco¹ Wood Group

Utilities

Generation and
supply

Integrated	Centrica EDF Energy¹ E.ON UK¹ RWE npower¹ Scottish Power¹ SSE

Generation	Drax Group Falck Renewables Horizon Nuclear Power¹ International Power Vattenfall United Kingdom¹ Vedanta Resources

Supply	The Co-operative Energy Ecotricity ESB International Extra Energy Firmus Energy First Utility Good Energy Green Energy LoCO2 Energy Octopus energy Opus Energy Ovo Energy Phoenix Natural Gas Telecom Plus

Distribution

Electricity	Electricity North West¹ Northern Powergrid¹ SP Energy Networks¹ SSE Power Distribution UK Power Networks¹ Western Power Distribution¹

Gas	Firmus Energy National Grid Northern Gas Networks Phoenix Natural Gas SGN Wales & West Utilities¹

Transmission

Electricity	National Grid² Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission SP Energy Networks¹

Gas	National Grid

Other

Companies with headquarters and/or registered office in the UK but no applicable energy operations within the country shown in italics ¹Ultimate parent company is not UK-based ²Integrated in the United States, no generation or supply activities in the UK

Energy sources

BBL Pipeline
Dash for Gas
Forties pipeline system
Fuel protests
Gas infrastructure
Greenhouse gas emissions
Hydrocarbon oil duty
Oil and Gas Authority
National Transmission System
Natural gas fields
Natural gas-fired power stations
North Sea oil
Oil & Gas UK
Oil fields
Oil-fired power stations
Oil infrastructure
Oil refineries
Petroleum revenue tax

Renewables

Biofuels	Biodiesel Biofuel power stations National Non-Food Crops Centre Renewable Fuels Agency Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation

Geothermal	Geothermal power stations

Hydroelectricity	Hydroelectric power stations Severn Barrage Wave farms

Solar power

Wind power	List of offshore wind farms List of onshore wind farms North Sea Offshore Grid Wind power in Scotland

Government and regulation

Organisations	Carbon Trust Cenex Committee on Climate Change Department of Energy and Climate Change Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Energy Saving Trust Environment Agency Office of Gas and Electricity Markets

Legislation and initiatives	Carbon Emission Reduction Target Climate Change Act 2008 Climate Change Agreement Climate Change Levy Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006 CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Display Energy Certificate Energy Act 2013 Energy Performance Certificate Fossil Fuel Levy Low Carbon Building Programme National Industrial Symbiosis Programme Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation Planning Act 2008 Renewable Heat Incentive Renewables Obligation United Kingdom Climate Change Programme

Non-governmental organisations

Charities and pressure groups	Ashden Award BioRegional Campaign against Climate Change Centre for Alternative Technology National Energy Action Stop Climate Chaos Tyndall Centre

Industry bodies	Combined Heat and Power Association Energy Institute Energy Networks Association Energy Retail Association Green Power Forum RenewableUK Utilities Intermediaries Association

Research	Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology Energy Technologies Institute Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research NaREC Oil Depletion Analysis Centre UK Energy Research Centre

Energy conservation

Association for the Conservation of Energy British Energy Efficiency Federation Close the Door campaign Code for Sustainable Homes Double Glazing & Conservatory Ombudsman Scheme EcoHomes Energy efficiency in British housing Energy Saving Trust (Energy Saving Trust Recommended) Greenhouse gas emissions HTB National Home Energy Rating

Category
Commons

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