Accelerate the World's Transition to Sustainable Energy - to fight Anthropogenic Climate Change, page-20531

Re, ... much flawed utopian dream using unreliable energy.

10 May 2023 — The government and private investors have spent £198bn on renewable power infrastructure since 2010. But now energy companies are warning that ...

National Grid, which manages the system, acknowledges the problem but says fundamental reform is needed. The UK currently has a 2035 target for 100% of its electricity to be produced without carbon emissions.

The government and private investors have spent £198bn on renewable power infrastructure since 2010. But now energy companies are warning that significant delays to connect their green energy projects to the system will threaten their ability to bring more green power online.

A new wind farm or solar site can only start supplying energy to people's homes once it has been plugged into the grid.

Energy companies like Octopus Energy, one of Europe's largest investors in renewable energy, say they have been told by National Grid that they need to wait up to 15 years for some connections - far beyond the government's 2035 target.

'Longest grid queues in Europe'

There are currently more than £200bn worth of projects sitting in the connections queue, the BBC has calculated.

Around 40% of them face a connection wait of at least a year, according to National Grid's own figures. That represents delayed investments worth tens of billions of pounds.

"We currently have one of the longest grid queues in Europe," according to Zoisa North-Bond, chief executive of Octopus Energy Generation.

The problem is so many new renewable projects are applying for connections, the grid cannot keep up.

The system was built when just a few fossil fuel power plants were requesting a connection each year, but now there are 1,100 projects in the queue.

Torbay Council has been hit by the delays.

The diggers are already clearing the ground for a 6-hectare solar plant it is building in Torquay. It is due to be finished next year.

The council plans to use money raised from selling the energy to help fund local services, but it has been told the plant will not be connected for five years.

And even that date is not certain. "Worryingly, there are some indications that that could slip into the mid 2030s", said Alan Denby from Torbay Council. "That's a real problem for the council in that we declared that we wanted to be carbon neutral by 2030."

With projects unable to get connections, construction is either being paused or projects are being completed but are unable to produce any power.