Project from 2000 still waiting for grid connection

National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) has estimated that 70% of projects contracted to connect to the transmission network never progress that far.

Head of networks Julian Leslie cited one project in the queue for a connection that had been waiting for 23 years now.

It follows recent reports that some companies are facing waits of up to a decade for grid connections.

At Utility Week’s Future Networks, Heat and Transport Conference in Birmingham on Tuesday (7 February), Leslie said the capacity of assets awaiting connection to the transmission system is three times the amount actually needed.

He explained: “There’s 340,000MW of connection contracts out there today, that’s just for transmission, by 2035. We need about 100,000MW.

“When you look at the technology types that make up the connection queue, we have more than enough of every technology type to meet the requirements to meet 2035.

“The challenge of course is if you’re the new developer of your new exciting project…you want it to be on before 2035. The problem is there’s 340,000MW of capacity already out there…so the challenge is as we sort out the connection reform we need to find a way that those projects which have clarity, which have a higher transition rate into reality, we need to find a way to get them a connection.” He added that “70% of what is contracted to connect, doesn’t connect”.

Following her presentation earlier that day Ofgem’s director of networks Rebecca Barnett was asked about the issue of delays to connections.

She said: “We are moving from this old world of ‘connect and manage’ which actually worked to enable quick connections for early renewables at pace.

“We now have a huge expansion of what needs to be connected, both demand and generation at transmission and distribution levels, and we are moving to this shiny new world that we are calling ‘invest and connect’ where we have a top down definition of what the system needs and then build at pace to build out what is needed.

“There’s this messy, if I can call it that, transition. It’s causing real problems at the moment and I know that there are lots of actions going on at the moment both from network companies and  system operator to try and solve this both in the short term but also a longer term reform of the connections process.”

Last year the ESO launched an amnesty for stalled projects on the Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) register, which orders the queue for connection to the transmission network.

During a two-month amnesty window projects that were unlikely to be delivered were able to withdraw from the register at no cost or a reduced fee.

The ESO said removing stalled projects that are taking up space on the register will allow it to connect other projects more quickly and give it a clearer view of future capacity requirements on the network.