Winser backs lump sums for homes close to new power lines

Residents living near new overhead power lines would receive a “defined direct payment”, with a fund established for the wider community, under proposals set out by the electricity networks commissioner.

Nick Winser’s long-awaited report makes a wide range of recommendations to government, including fast-tracking the creation of the future system operator (FSO), which would then produce a spatial plan to identify when and where new electricity infrastructure is likely to be needed.

Winser calls for the planning process to be streamlined and a set of electricity transmission design principles to be created. He also warns that the current regulatory process adds “uncertainty and significant time” to the delivery of transmission infrastructure and calls for a new regulatory arrangement for transmission operators.

He is adamant that for the energy transition to be successful it will need buy-in from the public and that this will require a clear message around the need for a grid upgrade and tangible benefits for those communities affected. Therefore, he proposes a dedicated public information campaign and a clear set of guidelines for community benefit.

On the latter, Winser suggest two components – lump sum payments for individual households close to new transmission lines and a community fund for the locality. This would be a defined value per kilometre and would only apply to overhead lines or other visible infrastructure, such as substations.

He insists there is “every reason to be generous with these payments” given that undergrounding power lines costs up to 10 times more than having them above ground, and is more environmentally damaging.

But he also warns that winning over the public is about more than just financial reward and that it is vital they are given better information about the need for more transmission infrastructure. He points out that as well as having no long-term spatial plan for energy, there is no guidance on why lines should be onshore, offshore, overhead or underground or guidance on the environmental benefits or the trade-offs associated with any decision.

Given all of this, he asks: “Is it so surprising that such alarm, emotion and controversy is aroused by these schemes?”

Winser backs the creation of a series of bedrock plans such as the spatial plan, which would forecast supply and demand characteristics and their likely whereabouts and clear definitions of the principles and methods used to design the system. He also wants to see an energy system delivery board, chaired by government and including the FSO and transmission networks, to be established.

The report is divided into an open letter from Winser to the energy secretary and a supporting report by the Energy Systems Catapult, which Winser chairs. Both were delivered to government in June and there has been much speculation about when government would acquiesce to publish them.

In the letter to Grant Shapps (the third energy secretary since the creation of the commissioner role in July 2022), Winser says: “To  deliver 50GW of wind power and 24GW of new nuclear will be a major step  towards decarbonising our economy and providing customers with clean, secure, affordable electricity but that magnificent achievement will be wasted if we cannot get the power to homes and businesses. The implications of being able to build wind generation faster than the associated connections to customers will be serious: very high congestion costs for customers, and clean, cheap domestic energy generation standing idle, potentially for years.”

Winser was tasked with reducing the timescale for building strategic transmission by three years and ultimately by half. However, he stresses in his letter that a three year reduction would still remain too long when wind farms can be built in five or six years. He claims that “halving the timescale will in itself shield customers from risk as well as getting clean, affordable and secure energy to them earlier”.

The report details 15 recommendations to enable this ambition:

• The FSO should be established quickly and be responsible for producing an strategic spatial energy plan (SSEP)
• The FSO, supported by Ofgem, should urgently assess the scope for new short and long-term regional flexibility markets
• The SSEP should reflect detailed and intensive joint working between the FSO and the Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland
• Ofgem should provide strategic oversight and approval of production of the SSEP and network plans
• The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) should regularly provide key inputs to the SSEP
• The National Policy Statements (NPS) should be updated urgently and regularly thereafter
• The SSEP should be endorsed regularly by DESNZ and Ofgem and be referred to in the energy NPS
• A new document – Electricity Transmission Design Principles – should be created
• Ofgem should urgently conclude the Future Systems and Network Regulation consultation and establish a new regulatory arrangement with the Transmission Operators (TOs)
• Implement reforms to the development consent order process in England and Wales
• Implement reforms to the Electricity Act 1989 consenting process in Scotland
• The FSO and TOs should work with the government to design and implement a focused information campaign on the need for a grid refresh
• A clear and public set of guidelines for community benefit should be established.
• The new regulatory deal established by Ofgem with TOs should place a strong responsibility with the TOs to address the acute supply chain constraint
• A major review of engineering and technician skills in the UK needs to be undertaken

The government said it was considering the report’s recommendations closely, while Ofgem welcomed the “ambitious”, which it described as building on its work to establish strategic planning, accelerate investment and unblock the queue to connect to the transmission network.

Nick Winser is one of the speakers at Utility Week Forum, which takes place in London on October 4 and 5. To find out more and to see the full agenda, click here.