Accelerating Electricity Grid Connections

• Published date: 22 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Energy and Natural Resources, Energy Law, Oil, Gas & Electricity
• Law Firm: Gowling WLG
• Author: George Nixon and Gus Wood

As the UK transitions to cleaner, greener energy and increased electrification, there is unprecedented demand for electricity grid connections. There are currently 307GW worth of projects in the connection queue in Great Britain.

Although dependent on location and required capacity, there are long lead times for obtaining a grid connection, whether connecting to a distribution or transmission network. As a result, grid connections have become the main determinant of timelines for the development of many generation, storage and large-scale demand projects (such as data centres).

Below we take a brief look at several recent announcements that set out the direction of travel in terms of reforming the distribution and transmission connection processes.

Distribution

Firstly, in April 2023 the Energy Networks Association (ENA) - which represents energy network operators - published its action plan to accelerate distribution network connections. This sets out actions in three priority areas, as described below.

1. Reforming the distribution network connections queue

The current connection process is based on a 'first-come, first-served' model and was designed for a time when there were a smaller number of projects with a higher degree of certainty regarding planning permission and funding. However, due to the current long lead times for connections, many connection applications are now submitted well before there is certainty regarding a project's successful commissioning. This has resulted in a situation where projects that may never come to fruition are taking up places in the connections queue and potentially delaying shovel-ready projects.

In order to tackle this issue, the distribution network operators (DNOs) are proposing a partial shift to a 'first-ready, first connected' model. This means that connections which reach agreed milestones and are ready to start construction will be prioritised for connection where there is no detrimental impact on other projects ahead of them in the queue. In other words, the queue will be actively managed to maximise grid capacity.

Progression milestones were first introduced in 2017. However, connection applications that pre-date 2017 don't have milestones. Starting this spring, such projects will either be assigned milestones or removed from the queue.

2. Changing how transmission and distribution networks coordinate connections

Large generation or demand project connections to the distribution network are often delayed...