Battery boom accounts for third of clogged connections queue

Almost a third of all projects awaiting a grid connection are battery storage schemes, it has been revealed.

As of September this year, storage projects accounted for 29% (159GW) of all queued capacity, according to figures released by the Energy Networks Association (ENA).

The trade association claims this is due to a significant increase in battery project applications, coupled with storage projects being allocated more capacity than they need.

The figures are revealed within ENA’s report Rising to Britain’s Net Zero Challenge: Networks’ fair and faster connections plan.

It adds: “Applications for storage projects are increasing faster than any other technology (5,930% from 2019-2023) – and are a significant contributor to network capacity constraints.

“This volume […] is driven in part by the historically cautious treatment of storage.”

The solution, according to the ENA, is to “treat storage differently to free up capacity”.

In particular, network operators have developed solutions at transmission and distribution level to change the way that energy storage project applications are assessed – and the way that capacity is allocated to them.

They have two primary functions:

• Update the calculations for the way that energy storage technologies impact the network to reflect actual usage more closely, and release unused capacity for other uses. This is being done for queued connections at transmission level, and new applications at distribution level.
• Standardise the network access rights provided to storage projects applying to connect at distribution level. This will create consistent treatment of storage projects across DNOs.

The ENA calculates that these changes will free up 46GW of capacity at the transmission level and will create an extra 2-3GW of available distribution capacity each year.

The ENA’s report also calls for the planning process to be “more coordinated and realistic”. It estimates that doing so could release 46GW of additional capacity and accelerate future customer applications.

In particular, the report supports two things:

• Updating the Construction Planning Assumptions (as part of the Transmission Works Review) to model network reinforcements at a regional level, rather than project-by-project. This can translate into potentially accelerated dates for customers.
• Reforming the connections process to move away from the first come, first served approach, which is currently utilised as part of an incremental and ad-hoc approach to network design for connections. This will allow the ESO to process connections applications in batches and plan network reinforcements in a more coordinated way.

The report also questions the mandate to give every project a connection date, regardless of the size of the queue or if similar technologies already hold a place in the queue.

It adds: “In our market-driven energy system, network operators don’t and shouldn’t choose which projects connect to the network. However, this framework allows all types of technology to join the queue – even if that technology is oversubscribed – and obligates networks to provide connection. This often conflicts with economic operation of the system for all customers and may not allocate capacity to those projects that enable an efficient net zero transition.”

The report adds that the ESO’s “first-ready, first-connected” connections reforms recently approved by Ofgem “will not in itself address this conflict and the oversubscription of the queue”.

The ENA adds that to address this issue, policy or even legislation may be required.

In total the ENA estimates that the changes it is proposing, coupled with actions already being taken, will release an additional 139GW of capacity with approximately 71GW of projects accelerated for connection. It says that this exceeds the 225GW needed to decarbonise the grid.

Lawrence Slade, ENA chief executive, said: “We need to pull out all the stops to accelerate and improve grid connections and this plan gets us the capacity we need in just one more year to decarbonise the grid.

“The industry action plan we’ve set out today includes new ways to strengthen and tighten up the application process for connections to ensure only projects with a realistic chance of coming to fruition are approved, as well as a redoubling of efforts to improve coordination between transmission and distribution operators which we know will be more streamlined and ultimately, fairer for customers.

“Uptake of the benefits outlined by ENA will depend on the ability of the market to progress projects, including the number of projects which are in the current queue but turn out to be not viable. These so-called ‘zombie projects’ take up valuable capacity in the queue which could be released for other projects which are viable and ready to connect.”