Grid Capacity

Tessa Munt, the Member of Parliament for Wells and Mendip Hills, asked the Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, Michael Shanks, what steps he is taking to increase grid capacity. In response, the Minister stated that the government is working to halve the development time for new transmission infrastructure through reforms to planning, supply chains, and other areas. This, he said, will deliver the grid capacity needed to achieve clean power by 2030 and meet a doubling of electricity demand by 2050. Tessa Munt followed up, noting that communities are doing their best to power themselves through initiatives like community solar projects, but are facing extortionate costs to connect to the grid, which was designed for large power stations rather than smaller, distributed energy sources. She asked what the Minister can do to encourage the National Grid to pivot and help communities and individuals create energy closer to their homes. The Minister acknowledged Munt's points, agreeing that the grid needs significant upgrading. He said the government is working to shorten the connections queue and make it more affordable for smaller community projects to connect, including through partnerships where larger renewable projects share their connection capacity. The Minister stated that there is much more to do, but the government is working quickly to move this forward after 14 years of inaction. Pippa Heylings, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, then intervened, echoing Munt's concerns about the lack of national grid capacity holding back the UK's renewable energy push. She cited examples in her own constituency of South Cambridgeshire, where projects have been delayed due to grid connection issues or prohibitive costs. Heylings asked the Minister to explain how the government plans to reach the necessary scale and pace of grid upgrades. The Minister acknowledged Heylings' points, noting the significant challenge posed by the over 700GW waiting in the connections queue. He stated that the government will implement previous work to prioritize the queue, but said more needs to be done. The Minister emphasized that by 2030, the UK will need to build four times as much new transmission network as has been built since 1990, describing it as a project to rewire the entire country and improve current connections, working with the new national energy systems operator on a roadmap to 2030.