The UK is taking serious steps to meet its climate and energy commitments of a fully decarbonised electricity system by 2035 and net zero by 2050. With the rapidly increasing shift towards electrification of transport, heating and industrial processes supported by the growth in renewable energy sources (RES) and low-carbon generation capacity [including 50 GW of offshore wind (OSW) power by 2030 and 24 GW of nuclear power by 2050], a substantial amount of additional grid capacity is required. Customers seeking network connections are experiencing significant delays with some customers being offered connection dates in the late 2030s.

To deliver this in time, the end-to-end build time for transmission infrastructure needs to be reduced significantly. For this, the government-appointed Electricity Networks Commissioner has made 43 recommendations (published in August 2023) across eight themes to accelerate electricity transmission network build. The report sets out a holistic approach considering all aspects of the design and delivery of transmission infrastructure, seeking to reduce timelines while engaging communities effectively and providing community benefits for those hosting transmission infrastructure.

On November 22, 2023, the UK government, accepting the commissioner’s recommendations in all areas, published its response through the Transmission Acceleration Action Plan (TAAP). Building on this, the government and the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) published the Connections Action Plan (CAP), which sets out ambitious plans to significantly accelerate connections from five years to six months. It will close the existing ‘first come, first served’ approach, which has ed to a long queue of grid connection projects totalling around 500 GW, which is five times the amount that is currently connected. Also, several projects in the queue will not connect and many are hoarding capacity, preventing viable projects from connecting. CAP is expected to release over 100 GW of capacity from the current queue – equivalent to around a quarter of the electricity needed to power the UK’s economy in 2050.

The two action plans taken together could bring forward around GBP90 billion of investment over the next decade. This includes GBP15 billion associated with the TAAP and GBP50 billion to GBP100 billion associated with the CAP over the next decade. These will also boost the deployment of RES and low-carbon generation, ensuring energy security and supporting decarbonisation.

TAAP

TAAP seeks to halve the build time for new transmission from 12-14 years to seven years through actions across eight themes.

Strategic spatial planning: In line with the commissioner’s recommendations on developing a strategic spatial energy plan (SSEP) including a marine environment assessment and an offshore delivery route map, work has begun towards developing an SSEP that will cover the whole energy system, land and sea, across the UK. It will set the foundation for holistic, cost-effective network planning; facilitate early engagement with the supply chain; and give more certainty to the planning and consenting process.

In early 2024, the UK government plans to commission the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), in advance of becoming the Future System Operator (FSO), to work with it to develop the SSEP. This will be done in consultation with the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) and ESO with input from the Scottish and Welsh governments. Once established, based on the SSEP, the FSO will develop short and longer-term Centralised Strategic Network Plans (CSNPs), which will be high-level plans for both on- and offshore networks. The CSNPs will support the connection of all grid-connected generation and demand, and seek opportunities to coordinate connections, reducing the amount of network infrastructure needed, building on the approach taken in the Holistic Network Design (HND) for OSW (published by ESO in July 2022).

Design standards: For implementing design reforms, ESO (subsequently FSO) will work with the transmission owners (TOs), UK, Scottish and Welsh governments, Ofgem and the Energy Networks Association (ENA) to progress a set of electricity transmission design principles (ETDP). Once referenced in the National Policy Statements (NPS) by the government, the TOs can use the ETDP as the basis of engagement with communities. The government supports the adoption of automated route design as standard practice by TOs and recognises the benefits it could bring in supporting corridor routing to help standardise and streamline the process.

Regulatory approval: The plan is to streamline the regulatory approval process from the critical path and introduce competition in grid projects where appropriate. The CSNP will confirm the need for new grid infrastructure, endorse the design solution and confirm the delivery body – removing these tasks, undertaken by Ofgem until now, from the critical path and providing early certainty to network companies allowing them to focus on delivery. This is set out in Ofgem’s Future Networks and Systems Regulation (October 2023), which also confirms that Ofgem will move towards ex-post agreement of costs where appropriate.

Planning approval: To reform the planning processes, the government has published a set of updated NPS for energy infrastructure in England and Wales to ensure the right balance between the need to build vital infrastructure and the impacts it can have on the environment and communities. Large electricity grid infrastructure projects [at 132 kV or above and over 2 km, designated as nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs)] will be given critical national priority status in the draft NPS currently laid before the Parliament. The government is also considering introducing a more flexible process for updating the NPS to ensure it can be updated more frequently when required. The plan is to reference SSEP, CSNP and ETDP in all future versions of NPS to give them weight in the planning system.

Supply chain and skills: The government and Ofgem support a more strategic long-term approach to supply chain engagement and ensure the approach is enabled through strategic network planning and regulatory frameworks. In 2024, Ofgem plans to review the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework to assess if further changes are required and if it should be extended to future projects. The government has announced the Green Industries Growth Accelerator with a commitment of GBP960 million to support key net zero sectors including electricity networks. The aim is to support the expansion of strong domestic clean energy supply chains across the UK. In the first half of 2024, it also plans to publish the Green Jobs Plan to address the future workforce demands in electricity networks among other sectors.

Community and engagement: To ensure the buy-in of the communities particularly those hosting transmission network infrastructure, the plan is to provide an electricity bill discount for properties located closest to transmission network infrastructure and a wider community benefit (to be co-developed by the project developer and the local community). The government plans to provide further information in 2024 on the overall community benefits policy including bill discounts and options for developing a mandatory approach to wider community benefits.

Outage planning: Under this, ESO (subsequently FSO) should optimise outage planning arrangements and collaborate with the industry to strategically plan outages in the short-, medium- and long-term to enable grid transformation. This will ensure that the outage plan does not become congested and avoid delays in the final stages of project delivery where new infrastructure is connected to the existing network.

End-to-end process and next steps: A new ministerially-chaired Transmission Acceleration Forum and appropriate supporting governance will convene industry CEOs, regulators and ESO to track the delivery of the actions set out in TAAP and to monitor the impact on the delivery of transmission infrastructure. In addition to TAAP, the Transmission Acceleration governance will align with the wider governance being established to support the delivery of actions set out in CAP.

CAP

CAP seeks to address the issues in the existing connection process and sets out six key areas of action for the government, Ofgem, ESO and TOs to drive further action and significantly reduce connection timescales. These key areas include:

  • Raising entry requirements to increase the quality of projects applying for transmission connections and deter speculative applicants. Under this, ESO will start requiring, subject to Ofgem’s approval, evidence of permission from a landowner for a connection application to be accepted.
  • Removing stalled projects to release capacity for more viable projects. For this, milestones in transmission connection contracts will be set, which need to be met by the connection customer. Otherwise, the customer will face termination of the contract and lose their queue position.
  • Better utilising existing network capacity to reduce connection timelines. The plan is to change the assessment criteria for impacts of connections by ESO and TOs and enhance the use of flexibility, including non-firm or flexible connections. Under the latter, connection customers agree under certain network conditions they will not be able to export/import in return for a faster and potentially cheaper connection.
  • Better allocation of the available network capacity moving away from the first come, first served approach to one that connects readier projects. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in collaboration with the Office of Investment will manage a triage process to ensure support for strategically important projects.
  • Improving data and processes, sharpening obligations and incentives of the ESO and network companies to give connection customers a better understanding of the condition of networks to improve the quality of the applications and reduce speculative applications, as well as to ensure network companies deliver timely connections and high-quality customer service consistently. As part of the latter, Ofgem will undertake an end-to-end review of connections incentives, obligations and requirements of the ESO and network companies.
  • Developing long-term connections process models aligned with strategic planning and market reform to ensure they are integrated to deliver strategic outcomes for a timely and efficient transition to a net zero energy system.

As mentioned earlier, these actions, in combination with ESO and network company initiatives underway and longer-term ESO connection reforms, will have both an immediate and enduring impact. In the immediate term, ongoing ESO initiatives should free up around 100 GW of transmission capacity. Improved connection offers are beginning to be provided and there is the opportunity for a further 20 GW to be accelerated in 2024 as the actions are rolled out across the country.

These actions will be implemented by a new Ofgem-chaired Connections Delivery Board (CEB), comprising UK, Scottish and Welsh governments, ESO, ENA, network companies and connection customer representatives. CEB will provide strategic direction and accountability, track progress against targets, and mandate further actions as required. CAP is expected to positively impact all types of connection customers ranging from large-scale RES generation, and industrial decarbonisation projects to electric vehicle (EV) charge points installation companies and individuals installing heat pumps in their homes.

The UK is intent on major plans to bring forward investment by building network infrastructure faster, speeding up grid connections and rapidly increasing capacity on the electricity grid through the two latest action plans. They are part of a wider evolving landscape of governance and network planning reforms with the establishment of FSO and the development of SSEP and CSNP. Overall, the measures will help strengthen the country’s energy security and ensure the delivery of strategic outcomes for a timely and efficient transition to a net zero energy system.