A reform of the UK grid connection process is on the way, which will change the way projects can access a grid connection. The proposals were submitted in December 2024 and were developed collaboratively by the energy industry, government, and the regulator. The final decision was published today by Ofgem (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets), the UK government regulator for the electricity and downstream natural gas markets.
Figure 1: Timelapse of trains near former Battersea Power Station. [3]
A Backlog of Connection Delays
Grid connection issues have long been a well-known issue in the UK; there is currently over 700 GW of capacity in the grid connection queue. The current system takes a ‘first-come, first served’ approach to grid connections, which means that some projects have been waiting years to get up and running. Some projects have been waiting up to 15 years to be connected, leading to the description of being ‘grid-locked’, and the connection queue has grown tenfold in the last five years.
Fast-Tracking Priority Energy Projects by 2026
The new system will be managed by the National Energy System Operator (Neso), and will allow projects that are ready to be operational and ‘needed’ by 2030 to be fast-tracked. What ‘needed’ means will be down to the Neso, but it is assumed that this involves some element of assessing the scale of benefit of the project. The schemes most likely to benefit are large scale renewable energy projects and electric vehicle charging sites. The regulator aims for the first projects to be connected and operational under the new regime in 2026.
This will be a change welcomed by many developers within the industry, who commonly complain about the time it takes to get a cable to connect their wind or solar farm to the grid.
Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said [1]:
“The proposed connection reforms will supercharge Great Britain’s clean power ambitions with a more targeted approach anticipated to unlock £40 billion a year of investment and energise economic growth.
The reforms would cut through red tape, consign ‘zombie projects’ to the past and accelerate homegrown renewable power and energy storage connections as we head to 2030.
Houses and hospitals, electric vehicle charging stations, data centres and the emerging AI sector, would also all benefit from the proposed streamlined fast-track approach, which would help boost energy security and drive down bills.”
Not Everyone is a Winner
An interesting aspect of the proposed changes is that Ofgem estimates [2] that about two-thirds of projects in the queue as of February last year will be “deprioritised” for not being urgent enough. According to Ofgem, as many as 40% of the schemes currently in the queue are speculative and will never be built. So not everyone will be a winner from the new scheme.
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References
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/clean-energy-projects-prioritised-for-grid-connections
[2] https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ofgem-scraps-years-long-queue-074523120.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAhix_VI_WGWYM543n8ctbnChKLqMiz0mg-8cfX9-fXt71xqVtQWK22Tq1gJfQPm9POzGBjNP3F1s6nPsXGlTuekkcjIR7zrDHFiprLgPr46vir8KaluczwBEKVyzk5MWsfsnus1sM01KSJyxX1HotVV7wWQ6ldfKxPVWwW2chNh
[3] Ajeet Panesar from Unsplash.com. Last accessed on 14th April 2025. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-city-street-at-night-rTqhiI8gTPA
