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Britain’s energy system operator is prioritising hundreds of projects for connection to the electricity grid before 2030 while hundreds of others will be forced to wait under plans to speed up the shift towards lower-carbon electricity.
The National Energy System Operator (Neso), a public body, will announce the results of an overhaul of the queue to access the grid on Monday, after a massive backlog developed under the previous grid connection rules.
Under the new plans, grid connection dates before the end of the decade will be offered to almost one-fifth of the energy and storage projects in the queue, about 131.6 gigawatts out of roughly 700GW.
They have been chosen for their readiness to build and the extent to which they will help meet the government’s target of decarbonising the electricity system by then.
A further 151.3GW will be offered connection dates by 2035, while at least 300GW will not currently be offered to connect before then.
The changes follow huge frustration among industry and government over a massive backlog, which has meant years-long waiting times to connect for many projects.
The current queue of 700GW is about four times more than Britain needs to meet its clean power 2030 target, and is at least one and a half times more than the installed capacity Neso expects will be required by 2050. Britain’s entire current installed capacity is about 110GW.
Officials believe many of those in the existing queue are speculative projects unlikely to get built and are now clogging up the system.
The changes are likely to be welcomed by developers whose projects are being prioritised and should lead to a smoother system.
However, they are likely to infuriate and potentially bring legal challenges from developers who feel their projects have been unfairly downgraded.
One industry source said there would be “winners and losers” from the overhaul. Another warned: “There are going to be some smaller [generation] developers that are completely screwed by this process.”
The bulk of those getting connection dates in the first phase are battery projects (34.5GW), followed by offshore wind (32.1GW) and solar (29.9GW).
Meanwhile, Neso says that about 12 per cent (11.8GW) of the almost 100GW of large electricity consumers waiting to connect to the high-voltage transmission system — much of which are data centres — will be offered connection dates by 2030, with the rest by 2035.
This is based on the readiness of projects and network companies, as opposed to their compatibility with clean power targets.
The plan to overhaul the queue for power stations was put in motion by the government at the end of last year, marking a more state interventionist approach to the energy sector.
Neso, which does not build the connections itself, oversees the electricity system and contracts with developers wanting to access the grid.
The connections are built by the owners of the networks, such as the FTSE 100 companies National Grid in England and Wales, and SSE in Scotland.
One of the industry sources questioned whether the network owners would definitely be able to deliver the connections according to the new plan, given pressures on supply chains.
“It remains to be seen whether the outcome will be worth the process,” they said.
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, described the reforms as a “once in a generation” process to “clean up the queue and prioritise the projects that are ready to help us deliver clean power by 2030”.
“Accelerating the process of connecting up new projects could unlock up to £15bn of investment in offshore wind alone,” said Barnaby Wharton, RenewableUK’s head of flexibility and grid.
This will “significantly” strengthen Britain’s energy security, he added.
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