UK Octopus Energy Suggests Changes to UK Grid Process as Connection Que Climbs

UK-based firm Octopus Energy has outlined a set of suggestions for changing the UK’s grid connection process as the capacity that is currently waiting to be connected has climbed to around 700GW from just over 200GW in April 2023, according to its “End the Gridlock” report.

• The firm has highlighted that further action is needed on open-sourcing the connections process, connecting high-quality projects first, enabling wider industry collaboration, and expanding existing network capacity.
  
• And called to the end of the “first come first serve” connection system that is in place – as unpredictable projects have increased the amount of capacity waiting to be connected.
• “The queue has grown by >300GW since reforms were announced, with up to 70% of that being zombies that will never connect,” Octopus said.
• This has caused more predictable projects to be connected to be pushed back.
• The firm also pointed out that network expansion has lagged behind the growth of renewables, which is now expected to costs consumers up to £2.6 bn/yr by 2026.