Featured in Down to the wires 06-2024

Great Britain: Cutting the queue

Connecting to the electricity grid serving Great Britain can be an exercise in extreme patience, as extraordinarily long wait times for new generation projects threaten national climate goals. Policy efforts are in place to try and bring down delays but a transmission network overhaul is required to realize renewables ambitions.
Matthew Lynas
By
Matthew Lynas
Major investment is required in Great Britain’s transmission network to significantly increase the renewables generation capacity connected to the grid. | Photo: Vattenfall

 The UK government wants a zero-carbon electricity system for Great Britain by 2035. That requires gigawatts of new renewables generation capacity – a lot of intermittent generation for a 1950s network. New infrastructure is needed.In 2022, the UK government tasked an Electricity Networks Commissioner to explain how to halve build times for new transmission infrastructure, …

pv magazine
Subscribe to get access to this content
Purchase a digital or print subscription to read this article in full. Choose the best subscription for you.
View our subscription options