Source · Select Committees · Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 45
45
Paragraph: 194
Enable National Grid ESO to require projects meet strengthened grid connection milestones.
Recommendation
The UK’s “first come first served” approach to grid connections is failing to deliver the volume of connections required. Projects which may be speculative or slow-moving risk being prioritised over those that are more viable. While we welcome National Grid ESO’s five-point plan to tackle queue management issues at the transmission level, we do not believe this has proved successful to date. We recommend that Ofgem allows National Grid ESO to require projects already in the queue to meet strengthened milestones. If projects are unable to meet these, network operators should be able to prioritise other more viable projects in the queue. In response to this report, we ask that National Grid ESO explains what steps it is taking to work with the Distribution Network Operators to stop projects that want to connect to the distribution network getting stuck in the transmission queue. We would welcome direct intervention from Government on these issues if required.
Paragraph Reference:
194
Government Response
A response document is linked to this report, dated 14 July 2023. Response attribution to this recommendation has not been verified. Read the response document ↗