A major overhaul of Great Britain’s electricity grid connection process was confirmed on 8 December by the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
The initiative will prioritise a new pipeline of “shovel-ready” energy projects that are expected to generate £40bn in clean investment annually. The transformation is designed to accelerate progress towards the government’s Clean Power by 2030 target.
The overhaul of the connections process comes after the queue for grid access grew tenfold in five years, reaching over 700GW – approximately four times the nation’s projected need by 2030.
Chris Stark, Head of Mission Control for Clean Power 2030, said: “This overhaul of the connections process is the single most important step we will take towards a clean power system.
“The energy projects our country needs now have the green light to deploy at a pace we haven’t seen for decades.”
The new approach moves from a first-come, first-served model to one that prioritises projects ready to meet Great Britain’s energy and economic needs.
NESO’s official release states that thousands of projects, including wind and solar farms, battery storage, and hydrogen, will join the new pipeline. This includes 283GW of generation and storage capacity and 99GW of transmission-connected demand.
“Transforming the grid connections process is a vital first step in unlocking the capacity needs for a secure, affordable energy transition,” stated Kayte O’Neill, Chief Operating Officer at NESO.
“These changes will cut grid bottlenecks by prioritising ready-to-build projects, giving certainty about when and where they can connect and unlocking billions in clean energy investment.”
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “We inherited a broken system where zombie projects were allowed to hold up grid connections for viable projects that will bring investment, jobs and economic growth.
“To fix this we embarked on ambitious, once in a generation reforms to clean up the queue and prioritise the projects that are ready to help us deliver clean power by 2030.”
The first protected projects scheduled to connect in 2026/2027 will begin receiving formal offers with confirmed connection dates through December and into the new year. Remaining offers to be finalised by Q3 next year.
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