Ofgem and National Grid ESO have agreed on steps for a Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) amnesty that will allow certain generators to exit the UK’s grid connection queue without incurring the usual charges.
The organisations state up to 8GW of unwanted capacity reserved across around 50 projects could be released from the current waiting list as a result.
Doing so would allow other developments to connect to the grid faster than is currently possible, addressing a significant barrier to the pace of renewable energy deployment.
According to Ofgem, the existing TEC queue now exceeds 340GW of new generation capacity in possession of connection agreements, 40% of which is not in line to be effective until 2030 or beyond.
Power generators typically have to pay a cancellation charge to exit a grid connection contract, but National Grid ESO plans to waive these fees up until September 2024.
This will only apply to those parties who already expressed an interest in leaving the register during the amnesty window (October 2022 to April 2023) and have supplied relevant cost information.
Ofgem has today backed the plan, stating: “These impacts permeate into the distribution network, hinder the growth of new generation and ultimately slow Great Britain’s progress to net zero.
“There is a clear need to take action now to enable the optimisation of the connection queue to deliver improved connection dates and processes for customers.”
It added the income lost as a result of the amnesty’s fee waiver will be recovered from all users of the grid via Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charges.