Developers who want to make new connections to the high voltage electricity network have until Tuesday 26 August to submit evidence that their project is ready to go ahead, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has announced. NESO announced the closing date in accord with a promise to give potential applicants ten days notice before the event.

The ‘window’ is a new approach to connecting new assets to the electricity network intended to speed up connections, by removing stalled ‘blocker’ projects from a connections queue that was strictly ‘first come first served’.

A rule change means that the most-ready projects will be connected first. NESO set out a process that required project developers to submit information about their project readiness, following which projects that have secured land, finance and permits will be able to proceed to the next stage of connecting. Projects that miss the ‘window’ will not be able to join the queue to connect and will have to wait for a new ‘window’ at a later date.

NESO was forced to delay the closure of the window after companies experienced problems submitting information. On11 August Kayte O’Neill, NESO chief operating officer, admitted that companies had had problems submitting evidence but said: “Thanks to the constructive feedback, the improvements we have delivered and the ongoing collaboration, last week we reached around 1000 submissions from across a range of technology types. We are confident we can now move forward and today we are issuing ten days notice that the evidence submission window will close on 26 August.”

Janet is currently the editor of New Power (www.newpower.info), a monthly report and database on UK power sector development and the UK’s evolving energy industry. She has been a journalist covering the power and energy sector for 25 years, covering technology, policy and politics as editor of magazines including Power Engineering, Asian Electricity, Middle East Electricity and Utility Week.View full Profile

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