Connections reform decision is a milestone on the road to Clean Power 2030

Today’s decision by Ofgem is a welcome and hugely significant development. Getting the green light for reform of the connections process is a culmination of efforts across industry, driven by NESO, Ofgem, government and our teams at National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET).

We’ve long been advocating for reform, from stronger measures to tackle the oversubscribed connections pipeline, to a fundamentally new process which prioritises the energy projects that are most ready, and most needed to meet the country’s clean power targets.

With today’s announcement, these and other much needed changes have been rubber stamped by our regulator, and as an industry we can collectively focus on implementing a new connections process which is fit for the future.

Our RIIO-T3 plan is clear about the interacting roles connections reform and Clean Power 2030 will play in shaping how we invest in upgrading our network

It’s worth taking a moment to reflect on why these reforms are so vital.

Britain’s transmission and distribution connections pipeline is currently oversubscribed with 750GW of projects, significantly more than is needed to meet our net zero goals. It’s introducing uncertainty around what substations need building and where, and triggering a huge volume of unnecessary engineering works.

This causes delays and pushes up the time it takes to connect our customers, laying bare why we need a new, improved and faster way to get the right projects plugged into the right places.

The new Ofgem-approved package of reform measures will deliver that improved process in several ways. It will reduce and re-prioritise the connections pipeline; it will raise barriers to entry; and it will align the new process to the country’s strategic energy plans.

Projects will no longer progress on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Instead, a new ‘first ready and needed, first connected’ approach will put the focus on plugging in clean energy schemes that are most viable, with a gated process accelerating those which meet new progression criteria.

We’re committed to working closely with our customers as the changes take effect, and supporting them on the journey

With criteria applying to the existing pipeline as well, the measures will also weed out unviable projects, potentially reducing the size of the pipeline significantly.

Crucially, it’s not only a project’s readiness that matters in the new process, but whether it is needed in the context of Britain’s broader energy plans – starting with Clean Power 2030 (CP2030) and in the future, even more holistically, through the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP).

In our recently published RIIO-T3 plan, we’re clear about the interacting roles that connections reform and CP2030 will play in shaping our network investment over the coming years, and the importance of being able to adapt to change.

[Find out more about our RIIO-T3 plan]

With connections reform set to come into effect over summer, we’re now taking major steps towards having a better view of the future needs of the transmission network, and more focused direction to deliver on our T3 plan – which will help us connect the right mix of technologies in the right places to achieve net zero.

Britain’s network design process must now continue in step with today’s developments. In particular, it’s important that NESO’s refresh of its Beyond 2030 plans reflects the outputs of connections reform, so that we’re designing the post-2030 network on the strongest possible foundation.

While NESO will continue to lead on implementation of connections reform, we’re committed to working closely with our customers over the coming weeks and months ahead of the changes taking effect, and supporting them on the journey.

If you have queries about how reform impacts a project already in development, speak to NESO in the first instance. For more on our role in the process as reform takes shape, contact your NGET Relationship Manager. Alternatively contact [email protected].