Some UK solar farm developers have been told that they face a 15–20 year wait to connect to local electricity grids, which the energy regulator claims is a “major problem” as the government wants to decarbonise its power system by 2035.
Blockages in the network mean that some solar farm developers will only be connected to local electricity grids by the 2030s, with the government recognising “the challenge of connection delays.”
A Solar Energy UK spokesperson pointed The Epoch Times to materials that said at least two of its members have been told to expect connections in 2037. In some cases, previously agreed connection dates have been pushed back years, for example from 2025 to 2028.
‘Zombie’ Projects
The government hopes that all electricity produced in the UK will not have any carbon emissions from generation by 2035 and wants a “fully decarbonised” power system by 2050.Earlier this month, energy regulator Ofgem chief Jonathan Brearley said that it is “unacceptable” that some renewable energy projects which may never be built are able to block more viable solar farms from being connected to the grid.
This is down to a system, which he called “zombie” projects—which are never likely to go ahead—yet they still take priority over newer but more viable plans.
Ofgem believes that major reform is needed to reduce the waiting time for the increasing number of connections to the electricity network.
An Ofgem spokesman told The Epoch Times by email that developers looking to connect renewable energy projects to the electricity grid are facing waits of more than 15 years.
“In recent years, the time it takes for developers to connect renewable energy projects to the National Grid has soared and are being seen as a major problem. The queuing system also risks urgently needed new housing and other projects being delayed,” he added.
‘Not Ready for So Many Unreliable Sources of Power’
Ben Pile, climate researcher and co-founder of Climate Debate told The Epoch Times by email that these complaints refer to installations that “offer extremely small amounts of power to the grid, yet require substantial upgrades to grid infrastructure.”“The operator of a potential large rooftop solar array development, call it ”scandalous,“ but the real scandal is that this idea of microgeneration powering a first-world economy, which [former Prime Minister] David Cameron championed, has not been scrapped,” he said.
“They are not, as advocates claim, capable of reducing our bills,” he said.
Pile said that a similar problem occurred in the 2010s when onshore wind farm developers were sitting on twice as many planning consents as they had developed.
This was because the grid was “not ready for so many unreliable sources of power.”
“New connections of the right kind need to be made too often quite remote big wind farms, it’s only going to produce a few dozen megawatts at most and intermittently, whereas a conventional coal, gas, or nuclear power station can produce a steady 2 gigawatts [GW], a thousand times more than a wind turbine or solar farm, for essentially just one connection to the grid,” he said.
He said that the public will be paying to upgrade the grid so that a “factory owner and a solar firm can make extra money.”
“But it’s not a great deal for the consumer, who really needs those big power stations to bring prices down,” he added.
Pile said that the ‘“disarray” that potential suppliers claim the grid operators are experiencing “is no surprise.”
“The UK’s climate and energy policies are irrational and were bound to cause chaos. There are ‘164 GW of new connection requests’ because absurdly high energy prices, caused by green policy, have created the incentive,” he said.
He said that if all “these requests were fulfilled, there may, possibly, be 164 GW of capacity at lunchtime in July, when it is least needed.”
Cut the Time
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email: “Solar is a key part of our plans to power up Britain, helping to deliver cheaper, cleaner, and more secure homegrown energy. Nearly all of the UK’s solar capacity has been installed since 2010, amounting to enough to power over four million homes.“We recognise the challenge of connection delays, and we want to go further and faster, aiming for 70 GW solar capacity by 2035. That is why we’re working to cut the time it takes to connect projects to the grid as part of our plans to power up Britain.”
Lawrence Slade, chief executive of the Energy Networks Association, which represents the UK’s energy network operators, told The Epoch Times by email that “network operators are making every effort to accelerate grid connections as we understand the size and urgency of this challenge.”
“The industry has received 164 GW of new connection requests in the year to October 2022 alone. That’s around three times the capacity of our grid today,” he said.
“As today’s statistics show, more needs to be done and that’s why we have launched our Improving and Accelerating Customer Connections plan, which will include moving to a ‘first ready, first connected’ model. The clock’s ticking and it’s essential that the policy environment and regulatory regime keep pace and fully consider the UK’s net zero targets.”
