Collaborative action is tackling grid connection delays but we need to go faster and further

Work is underway to unblock the ever-lengthening queue to connect to the electricity grid. Writing for Utility Week, National Grid’s chief strategy and regulation officer Ben Wilson says that while progress has been made more “proactive steps” may be needed to remove non-viable projects from the queue.

Since the UK’s first commercial wind farm began exporting renewable power in 1992, electricity networks have connected 115GW of low-carbon electricity generation, making our grid one of the greenest in the world with record levels of renewable energy powering homes and businesses. But the pace of change continues to increase, with new targets for nuclear power, offshore wind and solar, as well as growth in new electricity intensive industries and technologies.

This has led to an unprecedented surge in applications to connect to the grid.  This is good news in that it shows that the UK remains a very attractive place to build renewables. But  for some customers this means connection dates well into the future. Everyone in the energy industry recognises the issue and is taking action, making progress towards phasing out the existing first-come first-served system. But the rate of applications continues to increase so significant further reform and prioritisation of projects is key.

The connections process that has served us well in the past is now not fit for purpose. The step change in volume and capacity of applications means simply connecting every single project is not the answer. Nearly 400GW of generation has applied to connect to our transmission and distribution networks across England and Wales, five times as much as we will ever need to meet the government’s 2035 decarbonisation target and much more than we need for 2050 targets too.

We also know many of these projects are unlikely to go ahead. Across the UK 60% of the projects looking to connect at distribution fail to materialise and of the transmission level projects contracted to connect by the end of 2025 only around half have planning consents in place, with multiple projects looking to connect at the same substation and even use the same land. The greatest area of ‘oversupply’ is onshore solar and storage projects.

Put simply ‘shovel ready’ projects that are closer to delivery must be allowed to connect quicker.

Change is underway and progress is being made

The good news is decisions are being made and reform is beginning. Plans put forward by government, Ofgem and the Energy Networks Association are helping with prioritisation which will speed up connections in time and in the recent budget the government committed to implement a new stringent connections process from January 2025.

Here at National Grid we are acting too, and at pace. We have connected nearly 10GW of clean power sources to our electricity transmission network over the last five years, with more than 3GW connected last year, including Dogger Bank, the world’s largest offshore wind farm. We’ve worked with the Electricity System Operator to secure an extension to the two step offer process,  enabling analysis related to the upcoming Transitional Centralised Strategic Network Plan (TCSNP) to be included. This means subsequent connection offers are based on a more realistic representation of the future network, which is expected to result in earlier connection dates for some customers.

At distribution level, we connected 51 new renewable energy customers in the first half of the 23/24 financial year and have seen more EV charge points connected in the last two years than all previous years combined. There are three times more heat pumps on our distribution network than in 2019.

But, while short-term improvements to the connections process are helpful, ultimately, we need to move towards a much more strategic and holistic approach. The government and Ofgem’s commitment to establish a ‘Strategic Spatial Energy Plan’ by 2025 is a welcome first step towards this, examining the energy infrastructure the country needs, and embedding this within the planning framework. Collectively we may need to go further, taking more proactive steps to remove non-viable projects.

Delivering network infrastructure and innovative solutions

Decarbonising the power system by 2035 means electricity networks need upgrading at a pace and scale not seen for generations, with new infrastructure critical in connecting the significant volumes of low carbon power generation required. In the five years to 2026 we’re investing £18 billion in our UK networks including on The Great Grid Upgrade. These 17 major transmission projects enabled by Ofgem’s ground-breaking ASTI framework will allow our network to connect and carry more clean electricity to homes and businesses across England and Wales. As well as infrastructure solutions, we’re also delivering digital innovation, with a new tool showing distribution developers the most realistic prospect of the quickest and cheapest connection, and a new self-serve connections product for the residential market. We are also one of the largest investors globally in our sector in energy transition startups, and we are working to deploy most of our portfolio companies onto our networks to deliver innovative outcomes for customers.

Connecting clean energy to the grid is critical to the net zero transition. We all need to move faster; focusing on reforms to reduce the pipeline, delivering faster connections for viable projects, and working together to influence positive policy outcomes  – all of which will deliver a cleaner, fairer energy system for all.