‘Zombie’ electricity projects in Britain face axe to ease quicker grid connections | Energy industry

Britain’s power system operator is pulling the plug on hundreds of power generation projects to clear a huge backlog that is preventing “shovel-ready” schemes from being connected to the power grid.

Developers will be told on Monday whether their plans will be rejected by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) or if they will be prioritized for connection by the end of the decade or 2035.

More than half of the energy projects in the pipeline will be removed to make way for plans worth around £40bn that are most likely to help meet the government’s target of building a nearly zero-carbon energy system by 2030.

The milestone marks the end of a two-year process to clear the logjam of delayed “zombie” projects awaiting connection, which means many viable proposals face a 15-year wait to connect to the UK’s transmission lines.

Energy minister Ed Miliband said: “We have inherited a broken system where zombie projects have been allowed to hold up grid connections for viable projects that will bring investment, jobs and economic growth.”

He added: “To fix this, we have embarked on ambitious once-in-a-generation reforms to clear the queue and prioritize projects that will help us deliver clean energy by 2030.”

Under the previous first-come, first-served model, the queue had grown tenfold in five years to nearly 700 GW of generation and storage projects; That’s roughly four times what the country is expected to need by the end of the decade.

The increase in applications has been largely driven by a boom in solar and battery projects aimed at helping the UK meet its green energy targets. Many joined the queue without having the right planning permissions or funding to progress the project, leaving their “shovel-ready” projects stuck in the backlog.

According to Neso’s figures, which do not include projects voluntarily leaving the queue, almost twice as many battery projects were rejected from the queue as those fast-tracked by the system operator.

Chris Stark, chair of the government’s 2030 clean energy working group, said: “Queuing is a British tradition, but queuing to connect to the British grid has hampered our economy.

“This overhaul of the connectivity process is our most important step towards a clean energy system. The energy projects our country needs are now being given the green light at a pace we haven’t seen for decades. This unlocks the modern, clean energy system Britain needs for 2030 and beyond.”

The tail end of power generation and storage projects will be replaced by a distribution pipeline of approximately 283 GW that could prove “shovel ready”; Some will be fast-tracked for a connection before 2030, while the rest will target a connection in 2035.

According to Neso, almost half of the capacity allocated for 2030 will be solar and battery projects, while one third of the new capacity will consist of onshore and offshore wind power plants. It was stated that only 3 percent of the capacity to be connected by 2030 will be gas-fired energy.

The system operator has also reserved capacity for projects to connect to the grid, including data centers and other energy-consuming schemes. But these projects face fewer requirements to prove they can move forward.

Separately, Monday marks 25 years of wind energy production in the UK since the first turbines were installed at Blyth, off the Northumberland coast. Britain’s 47 operational offshore wind farms currently provide almost a fifth (17%) of electricity generation, according to an analysis published by green group Ember on Monday; This makes it the second largest energy source after gas. The sector employs approximately 40,000 people.