An announcement has been made this morning on where a new 400,000 volt overhead electricity line will be stretched across the Fens.

There were three possible corridor routes mooted by National Grid to connect the proposed gas-fired power station in King's Lynn to the existing National Grid network by 2014.

After consulting the public last year, the energy company announced today that the east corridor route which stretches between the Ouse Relief Channel and West Winch is the preferred option.

This option includes the River Nar and the railway line and will see the power line leaving the power station to the south-east to connect to the grid.

The line will be around 1.75 miles in length and National Grid has said the pylons along the route could be 50 metres tall. This route was preferred over west and central corridor routes.

Following today's announcement, work on a specific route for an overhead line will be developed with further consultation and environmental surveys being carried out.

After this second stage of consultation, National Grid will then submit an application and consultation report to the Infrastructure Planning Commission, expected to happen later this year.

The company said the line from the new power station, next to the existing power station at Willows Business Park, to a point on the network north of Wiggenhall St Germans needs to be put in place to accommodate the extra power.

It added other works required in the King's Lynn area to facilitate this connection include replacing the conductors on the 400,000 volt Norwich to Walpole Line.

A new electricity substation on the proposed power station site and some work at Walpole substation are also required.

*Read tomorrow's EDP for the full report following this announcement