Call for Evidence

The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee, chaired by Baroness Taylor of Bolton, has launched an inquiry into the energy grid and grid connections. The inquiry will focus on the regulatory, planning and funding barriers to delivering energy infrastructure and the ability of the Government’s proposals to address them.

The Committee invites interested individuals and organisations to submit evidence by Friday 28 February 2025.

Background

The Government has set an ambitious target aiming for at least 95% of electricity generation in Great Britain to be clean by 2030. Its 2024 Industrial Strategy Green Paper argues that clean energy industries are a major driver of global growth, and that the UK is well-placed to capture these opportunities. The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan outlines that this will involve large expansions in the generation of a range of energy technologies, including onshore and offshore wind, solar, batteries, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and a continued commitment to nuclear generation.

To connect these new energy sources to the energy system, Great Britain will require a “once-in-a-generation upgrade” of energy infrastructure in the next five years. This will include around twice as much new transmission network infrastructure to be built by 2030 than has been built in the last decade.

This inquiry will focus on the barriers to delivering new network infrastructure and connecting generation and demand to the energy system, including barriers posed by the planning system. The Committee will consider whether a move to locational pricing could help to reduce the need for additional grid investment.

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper and a recent letter from the Prime Minister to regulatory bodies both recognise the important role played by regulators in boosting economic growth. With this in mind, the Committee will also inquire into the roles and responsibilities of the sector’s various regulators and bodies. For instance, the Committee will be looking at the National Energy System Operator’s proposals for connections queue reform, and Ofgem’s regulation of distribution networks.

Improving energy network infrastructure is a crucial aspect of the Government’s delivery of its economic and climate objectives. This inquiry provides an opportunity to assess the detail and feasibility of the Government’s plans to update and reform the grid, and to propose recommendations for refining and executing these plans.

Contributing evidence

The Committee encourages anyone with expertise in, or experience of, the matters under consideration in its inquiry to submit written evidence.

Diversity comes in many forms, and hearing a range of different perspectives means that committees are better informed and can more effectively scrutinise public policy and legislation. Committees can undertake their role most effectively when they hear from a wide range of individuals, sectors or groups in society affected by a particular policy or piece of legislation. We encourage anyone with experience or expertise of an issue under investigation by a Select Committee to share their views with the Committee, with the full knowledge that their views have value and are welcome.

If you wish to contribute your experience and expertise to this inquiry, please respond to the questions below. There is no obligation to answer every question.

Questions

The Committee is interested in answers to the following questions:

1. What is your view of the National Energy System Operator’s proposals to reform the connections queue? Will those changes be sufficient to ensure that projects necessary to meet the clean power target will be able to connect in a timely way? If not, what further changes are needed?

2. It is possible that the removal or deprioritisation of projects in the connections queue could be subject to legal challenge. What protections will NESO and networks need from any legal challenges which could arise as a result of changes made to the connections queue?

3. What barriers to delivering energy network infrastructure are imposed by the planning and consenting system? To what extent do these barriers relate to the resourcing of the various planning authorities, or to levels of community consent for this infrastructure? What is your view of the Government’s proposals to address these barriers, and are further changes needed?

4. What community incentives and/or obligations might best enable grid expansion, and how should they be decided?

5. How can environmental considerations be accommodated in extending the grid network?

6. Are Ofgem’s price controls and regulatory regime appropriately balanced to ensure the necessary network investment to meet the UK’s clean power target? Are changes needed to ensure greater network investment, and if so, what should those changes be?

7. What incentives need to be introduced to encourage generation and energy demand to locate closer to one another? Should this be done through locational pricing, and if not, should network charges be reformed to provide these incentives?

8. What is your view of Ofgem’s proposals to require a higher standard of service to connection customers from distribution networks? Should there be a greater standardisation of application processes and connection deadlines, with compensation for customers if they are not met?

9. Is there sufficient strategic planning for distribution networks? What will Regional Energy Strategic Plans need to deliver in order to be a success?

10. Is there sufficient focus on connecting sources of demand, such as businesses, to energy networks, as well as connecting new sources of energy supply? How can the needs of potential consumers of energy be balanced with the need to ensure adequate supply?

11. Does the current number of regulators and bodies involved in managing, overseeing and operating energy networks make it difficult to deliver at the necessary pace? How can these bodies work together efficiently, and with the Government, to deliver network infrastructure?

12. Is there sufficient coordination between Government policy and the regulatory processes and frameworks for energy networks? Should the Government provide greater strategic guidance to the sector on how to drive growth and grid expansion, for instance by providing greater clarity on trade-offs through its Strategy and Policy Statement for energy policy?