The rollout by the government of The Planning and Infrastructure Bill included significant proposals affecting electricity generation and capacity issues.
The Bill is intended to support the delivery of the government’s Clean Power 2030 target, by speeding up the building of key clean energy projects.
Among the highlights of the proposals:
- The Government plans to introduce a ‘first ready, first connected’ system to ensure approved clean energy projects are prioritised for grid connections.
- Reforming the grid queue is expected to accelerate connections for industrial sites and data centres.
- People living within 500m of new pylons across Great Britain will get up to £250 per year discounted from their energy bills.
- New guidance will set out the ways in which developers can ensure communities hosting transmission infrastructure benefit, mainly through funding for community schemes
Renewable energy projects will benefit from an extension of the generator commissioning period from 18 to 27 months.
Changes to the planning rules for electricity infrastructure in Scotland will streamline the consent process to enable decisions to be made faster.
Not Fit For Purpose
A government statement on the bill, and in particular electricity network connections reforms, stated: “The current ‘first come, first served’ connection process gives little value to how ready a project is, which is preventing more viable projects from being able to connect ahead of slower moving ones.
“It also overlooks the technological and locational mix of projects connecting to the grid and therefore does not consider impacts on the efficiency, cost or security of the electricity system, nor take account of strategic planning of the system as a whole.
“The grid connections process is therefore not fit for purpose and Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator (NESO) are working, with support from government, to reform it, moving from a ‘first come, first served’ to a ‘first ready, first connected’ approach.
“These reforms are an essential enabler for the government’s Clean Energy Superpower and Growth missions.”
Renewables and Battery Storage ‘Crucial’
The bill’s unveiling also highlighted the government’s plans for Long Duration Electricity Storage (LDES) – infrastructure that can store electricity and then discharge continuously for eight hours or longer at full power.
LDES enables the electricity system to store clean solar and wind power when it is plentiful, and use it when most needed.
The government claims this “is a crucial part of making Britain a clean energy superpower.”
The SNRG SmartGrid already utilises solar power and battery storage, through intelligent optimisation, to provide clean energy with bill savings of at least 15%.
SNRG funds, installs and maintains the SmartGrid, and in areas of grid restrictions, can connect major projects far quicker, allowing far more capacity, than would usually be allowed.
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