Britain’s “slow and bureaucratic” electricity grid is delaying the deployment of billions of pounds of UK investment, said RWE’s UK head.
Lack of grid infrastructure is the single biggest blocker to deployment of new low carbon power.
As well as building new grid infrastructure, Tom Glover, RWE UK Country Chair, has suggested how the connections process could work better and use the existing grid more efficiently.
Tom Glover, RWE UK Country Chair, said greater transparency of connection availability: Poor visibility of network availability is a material issue, meaning developers must place multiple applications to find a viable site.
Currently, the cost of applying for and holding a connection agreement is extremely low, and the limited cost of holding the place in the queue encourages parties to hold the agreement, even if the project is unviable or delayed.
Glover said higher upfront costs, or higher and earlier liabilities for grid connection agreements would mean that only viable projects with a high chance of commitment would apply for and hold connection agreements.
Allowing parties to “trade” connection capacity could help bring new renewables capacity online sooner.
For example, if one onshore wind farm is progressing more quickly, or is more economically feasible, but is behind in the queue, opportunities for a commercial agreement to swap places for a grid connection with another project could help bring viable projects online sooner.
More flexible and commercial arrangements for grid entry, such as sharing the same grid capacity, should also be considered, he said.