RSK has highlighted the need for a cleanse of grid capacity registers, a shift in capacity to areas with generation potential and the streamlining of relevant energy developments as a means to unlock the UK’s renewable energy sector.
Detailed within the report ‘Decarbonising the United Kingdom: Recommendations for the renewable energy sector’, RSK has called to end grid blocking to ensure renewable generation schemes can be accelerated for connectivity. In doing so, this can help stabilise energy bills whilst also accelerating the UK towards net zero.
“Our report unpicks the current state of play of the UK renewable energy sector from the perspective of those driving the energy transition at scale and shows how they perceive the challenges and opportunities ahead,” said Mike Kelly, energy business development director of RSK Renewable.
“We put questions to professionals across all parts of the sector, from established industries, including solar and offshore wind, to emerging technologies, such as tidal turbines and battery storage. Using the insights they have shared, we have come up with a series of recommendations to the government on specific actions they can take to maximise the potential of the sector and meet the ambitious climate targets.”
The report provides an in-depth assessment of the current state of play of the UK renewable energy sector and also details the challenges it faces. The report also makes several recommendations on the actions needed to unlock its potential.
Some of these primary recommendations include the need to bring capacity to areas where it is currently lacking but still has significant renewable energy generation potential. On this Kelly said: “The government needs to do more in terms of anticipatory investment and getting the grid into areas where there are opportunities for renewable energy generation.
“Plus, a lot of those areas probably need better capacity to take the likes of greater numbers of EVs and heat pumps for people living in those vicinities.”
This could help boost the renewable capacity of the UK by focusing on hotspots for generation. Areas such as Scotland have significant wind power generation potential and thus could be expanded and harnessed to develop a sustainable energy system.
Grid-blocking is also restricting the renewable energy potential of the UK and must be addressed to accelerate the connectivity of renewable energy projects. Kelly explained if there was a reset of UK grid capacity then an additional 10–12GW would be available within a few weeks.
The impact of this could be dramatic, freeing up capacity immediately could equate to around 20% of already installed renewable energy capacity and bring those connection dates from 2030 back to 2027, Kelly expressed.
Grid connectivity delays are also having a large impact on the sector.
“With the consent process often taking years, there is considerable concern that this will hinder the UK’s progress toward meeting its targets,” Kelly said.
“The government needs to introduce a reset to strengthen and streamline the process in tandem with that for grid connection to enable quicker decision-making. Viable projects could then move from consent to build and finally to grid connection at the pace and scale required. Without urgent reform, implementation will not be able to keep up with demand.”
Connectivity could be an area that sees improvement in the near future with National Grid ESO aiming to tackle connection management via a newly announced initiative.
The new approach will aim to remove stalled projects from the transmission entry capacity (TEC) register to allow new projects to be connected to the national electricity transmission network quicker.
The initiative will offer those on the register, whose projects are unlikely to reach delivery, to leave the register at no cost or at a reduced fee from 1 October to 30 November 2022. This could help facilitate new projects with a greater likelihood of being accepted, to be fast-tracked onto the transmission network and be operational much faster.
Other recommendations outlined in the RSK report include developing an industry strategy to set out specifically how targets will be met, investing in other means of support beyond subsidies and Contract for Difference (CfDs) and investing in education earlier and ensuring courses equip the talent pool with tangible skills.
