ESO vets stalled connection bids to ease grid bottlenecks

National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) is vetting stalled projects seeking a grid connection in a bid to tackle bottlenecks on the transmission network in South Wales that threaten to hold back potentially more viable renewable energy developments.

Giving evidence to the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee on Wednesday (27 April), which is conducting an inquiry into grid capacity in Wales, the ESO’s head of networks Julian Leslie said the body is taking steps to take projects out of the connection pipeline that are not progressing.

At its last meeting, the committee heard concerns from RWE UK chief executive Tom Glover that the company’s plans to develop a 400MW offshore wind project in the Celtic Sea are being held up by grid capacity problems in South Wales.

He said RWE wants to bring the electricity onshore in Pembrokeshire so that it can be integrated with the company’s gas-powered station also located in the county.

Glover said RWE had been offered a grid connection in Devon for 400MW instead.

Leslie said the grid already has commercial contracts for 13GW “nascent” projects between Pembrokeshire and the main network.

“We’re looking at how to change the planning standards so we can start to discount some of these projects that may have commercial backing,” he said, adding that projects that have made no progress over the last two years should be ejected from the grid connection pipeline.

“We’re clearing out stuff that we know is not going to happen because it has been refused planning permission.

“By the end of this year, anyone remaining in the queue has new obligations to clearly demonstrate progress on an annual basis: the minute they don’t show progress they are out of the queue and we will start to see where there is capacity.”

As a result, he said within the next 18 months, the ESO will start to get a clearer picture of the need for network reinforcement.

Peter Bingham, chief engineer at Ofgem, told the same meeting that the regulator is becoming “much more supportive” of electricity network investment ahead of need .

He said: “We have been reticent about anticipatory investment where there isn’t a clear need for connection to generation, particularly speculative developments. That stance has changed and is continuing to change to being much more supportive.

“We would like to take that philosophy forward, particularly with offshore development  elsewhere in the country.”

Leslie said speeding up the planning process would reduce tensions over anticipatory investment because it would enable delivery of new generation and grid infrastructure to be better aligned.