Faster grid hook-ups planned for some green energy projects

Charles Wood, deputy director of Energy UK, said it was “positive” that the government appeared to have acknowledged the threat of legal challenges.

But he said he would like to see more engagement from senior ministers to “address uncertainty” about the plans for network upgrades.

Merlin Hyman, chief executive of energy think tank Regen, said the plans to allow some projects to jump the queue made “a lot of sense” as the current system was “not fit for purpose”.

But he added: “Such a fundamental change is inevitably causing uncertainty for project developers and we need urgently to provide the clarity and certainty needed to unlock investment at the speed and scale required”.

It comes after initial attempts to purge the existing queue for connection of so-called “zombie projects” resulted in only 10 GW of connection being struck off, according to the Energy Networks Association.

This year, Ofgem put the size of the existing queue at 701 GW, and it’s expected to reach 800 GW by the end of 2024, which is far more than the UK would need by 2050.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said it planned to submit proposals for reform to Ofgem by the end of the year.

“This includes speeding up the process and reforming the system to remove stalled projects from the queue, so projects which support our 2030 clean power goal can be connected fast,” the spokesperson added.