Ofgem has announced a “tough new policy to clear zombie projects” and cut waiting time for energy grid connection.

The new rules are designed to speed up electricity grid connections for viable projects and allow stalled or speculative developers to be forced out of the queue, it replaces the existing ‘first-come, first-served’ system, which has led to a long queue of energy projects which could generate almost 400GW of electricity.

The rule change will give National Grid ESO the power to introduce strict milestones into connection agreements and terminate projects if they do not hit them at each project stage. These will be implemented by the UK grid’s operator, National Grid ESO, from 27 November 2023 and will be introduced to both existing and future grid connection agreements. This will terminate stalled projects that are blocking the queue for high-voltage transmission lines and means ready-to-go generation and storage to enable net-zero can be fast-tracked.

The ESO will publish guidance on 27 November on how it will use its powers with first terminations likely to happen as early as 2024.

The move comes after Ofgem’s CEO Jonathan Brearley said in May that urgent reform to the connections system was vital to unlock new investment and hit national targets – 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 70GW from solar by 2035.

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