UK Slashes Power-Grid Queue to Fast-Track Key Energy Projects
(Bloomberg) -- The UK’s power-grid operator slashed the queue for connections to the network, allowing the most advanced generation projects to move to the front of the line.
The National Energy System Operator axed more than 300 gigawatts of projects, with many not ready for a link-up and others deemed inessential to the country’s clean-power ambitions.
Britain is ending its “first-come, first-served” grid-queue system, replacing it with a more selective program to clear a huge backlog of projects and fast-track crucial new energy infrastructure. Accelerating connections to the network is critical to getting more renewables built and meeting 2030 clean-power targets, with some developers having waited a decade to access the grid.
“We inherited a broken system where ‘zombie’ projects were allowed to hold up grid connections for viable projects that will bring investment, jobs and economic growth,” UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said in a statement.
NESO will start informing customers Monday about its decisions. Battery developers were the hardest hit, with 153 gigawatts dropped from the queue. Yet the sector still has more than 34 gigawatts of projects lined up for 2030 delivery — more than any other technology.
Large energy consumers are also waiting for connections. NESO’s numbers show about 12 gigawatts of data-center projects and other heavy power users could be linked up to the grid by the end of the decade, with a further 87 gigawatts prioritized for 2035. That equates to twice Britain’s peak power demand.
The operator said projects that have been dropped from the queue have the option to reapply in the future.
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