“Poor connection speeds risk undermining us creating a net zero electricity system, protecting consumers from high and volatile gas prices and ultimately securing energy security and independence.” It is unacceptable energy projects are blocking great low-carbon schemes from plugging into the transmission network – with connection times of a decade or more. It found more than half of those projects in the queue had to wait five years or more to be offered a connection date.īrearley will say: “Polite queueing may be in the very best of British traditions – but the first come, first served connections regime is not fit for purpose if we are to end fossil fuel power within 12 years. Ofgem estimated that between 60% and 70% of high-voltage transmission schemes never connect to the grid. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. For more information see our Privacy Policy. Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties.
We all need to take joint responsibility for getting the connections regime sorted once and for all,” he will say. “Too often there is blame game between industry, generators, network operators and government. However, the Ofgem chief will attempt to quell tensions over the situation. It has launched a consultation to extend this approach to other energy technologies.
Ofgem announced a pilot of this model in December, accelerating £20bn investment in connecting up 26 offshore wind projects. However, Brearley will counter this by telling the Utility Week Live conference in Birmingham that Ofgem has “removed all barriers to National Grid investing in grid expansion and upgrades ahead of applications” through its “invest and connect policy”. In an interview with the Observer, the National Grid chief executive, John Pettigrew, called for his company to be allowed to do “anticipatory investment”to help renewable projects’ connections, rather than wait for a grid connection agreement to be signed on a specific project. Tensions have emerged in recent weeks over who is to blame for the delays. The ESO said 70% of the pipeline of projects that have a connection date after 2026 would be able to connect between two and 10 years earlier because of the changes. It involves allowing developers to leave the queue without incurring a financial penalty, creating new contracts related to how quickly a project has progressed and allowing sites that store electricity to connect faster. Separately on Tuesday, National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO) published a plan to speed up connecting to the grid. Officials are attempting to rebalance Britain’s energy network away from fossil fuels in favour of renewables, with a target of decarbonising the UK power system by 2035. They have expressed concerns that wait times of up to 15 years have made it difficult to attract investment as the UK competes with the $369bn (£295bn) US package of climate subsidies. Renewable energy developers have accused the government of a “lack of vision” in planning the grid.
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