Copper, aluminium, and steel could be among the metals underpinning the UK’s next major infrastructure expansion as the UK Government moves to accelerate investment in its electricity network.
The UK Government is creating a new electricity network company, Great British Grid, aimed at accelerating grid investment, increasing competition, and shortening connection times for businesses and renewable energy projects.
Great British Grid will be able to invest alongside and compete with private network operators for new transmission infrastructure, marking the return of a publicly owned participant to the UK’s electricity network sector following privatisation.
The federal government expects to deploy existing Great British Energy funding to support the initiative. The wider UK electricity network is projected to require around £70 billion ($133 million) of investment over the next five years.
The move comes as Britain seeks to expand renewable generation and electrification, increasing the need for transmission and distribution infrastructure to deliver power to homes, businesses, and industry.
A growing call for metals
The UK’s push to expand its electricity network is about more than keeping the lights on. Behind every new transmission line, substation, and connection sits a mineral-intensive supply chain, with copper and aluminium playing important roles in electricity infrastructure, alongside steel and other critical minerals.
The scale of that potential demand is reflected in the UK Government’s critical minerals planning.
Government projections indicate that the UK could require around 3.6 million tonnes (Mt) of copper and 8Mt of aluminium between now and 2035.
Copper demand alone is expected to nearly double by 2035, highlighting the growing importance of the metal to the UK’s electricity networks, electrification, and broader clean-energy ambitions.
These figures provide an indication of the material requirements sitting behind the UK’s energy transition, with grid expansion representing just one component of a much larger infrastructure buildout.
Great British Grid forms part of that wider push, with the UK Government saying the new body will help accelerate the electricity infrastructure needed to connect clean power and unlock economic growth.
The UK Government is already working with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) and energy regulator Ofgem to reform the connection systems. The work includes overhauling the connections queue and removing more than 300 gigawatts of speculative capacity.
For the mining and resources sector, the development highlights the close relationship between energy infrastructure and mineral demand. As the UK expands its grid to support the energy transition, it will also need the raw materials required to deliver that infrastructure.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
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