Teesworks sells 73.3 acres at Dorman Point to National Grid for Teesside substation

Teesworks has completed the sale of 73.3 acres of land at Dorman Point to National Grid Electricity Transmission for a substation that the site owner said is expected to be the largest in the UK.

Teesworks said the agreement was reached on 28 October 2026. In its release it calls the scheme Teesside Node A and said it will be built by National Grid's contractor Balfour Beatty.

The substation's initial 1,440 MVA capacity is scheduled to come online by the end of 2029, according to Teesworks. That capacity is contracted to Steel River Power (SRP), which owns and operates the private electricity network across the Teesworks estate.

Matt Pearce, National Grid Head of Land, said: "Securing this land agreement is an important step forward in the development of the new substation." He said the scheme forms part of The Great Grid Upgrade, which National Grid describes as the largest upgrade of the electricity grid in generations.

The site

Teesworks said the land sits directly beneath both 275kV and 400kV overhead transmission lines. It will carry out remediation works across the 73.3-acre plot over the next six months before handing it to National Grid Electricity Transmission for the next stage of development.

Chris Musgrave OBE, chairman of Teesworks Ltd, said the company's focus is now on delivering the remediation and preparing the land for handover.

The wider Teesworks site covers 4,500 acres on the banks of the River Tees in the North East of England, according to the organisation's own description.

Capacity on the estate

Teesworks set out the current position of SRP's private wire network alongside the new connection.

Measure	MVA
SRP existing network capacity	360
Currently available to businesses	200
Additional capacity contracted from National Grid	1,440

SRP has been contracted with National Grid since 2024 for the additional 1,440 MVA to meet what Teesworks called the estate's known future energy demand as industrial development continues. Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said the contracted 1.44GW could expand to 3.2GW in the near future.

SRP is a joint venture between Steel River Energy Limited and North West Electricity Networks, part of the ScottishPower/Iberdrola group. When the venture was announced in October 2024, Teesworks said SRP would invest upwards of £100m in the network, which it said would become the largest private wire network in the UK.

At that time Mr Musgrave set out why the estate had opted for a private network. He said: "Getting a new or expanded direct connection to the National Grid can take up to ten years."

Balfour Beatty's role

Balfour Beatty's involvement follows its appointment by National Grid in July 2025 as regional delivery partner for the North East of England under the Electricity Transmission Partnership (ETP).

National Grid expects to award around £8bn of substation construction work under the ETP over the RIIO-T3 price control period, according to Balfour Beatty's announcement of the appointment. Work under the framework was due to start in late 2025, with projects phased over five years.

Tony Wilson, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty's Power Transmission & Distribution business, said at the time that the company was proud to be entrusted with the North East region.

Why it matters

David Smith, chair of the South Tees Development Corporation, said investor confidence that energy infrastructure will be in place is crucial to turning development ambitions into reality. Mr Houchen said the biggest problem for anyone trying to build a data centre or energy-intensive industrial development in the UK is getting enough power to the site quickly.

Grid capacity at the estate has been under discussion at national level. Fintan Slye, Chief Executive of the National Energy System Operator, visited Teesworks in July 2026 to discuss electricity capacity and grid connections for the site.

Teesworks' release did not address the planning position for the substation.

What happens next

Remediation of the 73.3-acre site runs over the next six months, after which the land passes to National Grid Electricity Transmission. The first 1,440 MVA of capacity is scheduled to be online by the end of 2029.