Distribution network operator (DNO) Electricity North West revealed on Friday (2 February) that the aggregate capacity of new connections has increased 10-fold from just under 400MW in 2020 to more than 4GW this year.
Grid connections have been a difficult aspect of the Great British (GB) market however Ofgem, National Grid ESO and others have all introduced new measures to help ease and speed up connection times. Perhaps the most prominent change is the shift to a “first read, first connected” process – something that has been commended by the wider energy industry.
Commenting on the sharp rise in project capacity trying to connect to the network, customer and connections director at Electricity North West, Steph Trubshaw stated that the pipeline for such schemes for the region has “now increased to 9GW” a figure that is “double the current demand on the whole of the North West network and three times as much generating capacity as is currently connected in the region”.
In a bid to enable these new projects to connect to the grid, the DNO also revealed that it has enabled an additional 2.4GW of network capacity. This is something that could drive net zero further into the heart of the DNO’s network area.
Of the 2.4GW capacity that has been made available, Trubshaw revealed that 1.4GW had been made available through the “implementation of technical limits at our network interface with National Grid” whereas the other 1GW had been made available from “enhancing our policies to adapt to new technologies”.
Trubshaw revealed that the DNO hopes to add 1GW of extra capacity in the coming months.
Electricity North West is also working with Energy Networks Association (ENA) alongside other DNOs, National Grid Transmission, National Grid ESO and Ofgem to find solutions to the increasing demand for generation connections.
DNO’s continue to expand GSP capabilities
Electricity North West has agreed on new technical limits with the ESO for five of its grid supply points (GSPs) allowing earlier non-firm network access to customers ahead of their current consented transmission connection date.
GSPs have grown in popularity in recent months with various organisations unveiling new visibility or reports. For instance, National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) launched a report to grant developers an anonymised view of generation connection pipelines for GSPs.
By providing this data the system operator hoped that developers would be able to develop an idea of what their connection timeline might look like and “any potential interim in availability if their connection was accelerated”.
Following this, UK Power Networks, another GB DNO, released new data on its Open Data Portal on how much spare capacity is at each GSP. This enables customers to see not just how many projects are ahead of them in the queue, but what they are and whether there are fast-track flexible connections available.
