New research from a leading UK independent power producer (IPP), Root-Power, has identified 7.6 GW across 173 projects which will likely be made offers to connect pre-2030 after reforms put forward by the National Energy System Operator (NESO) have been approved by OFGEM.
The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan (CP2030) target is to have 11 GW battery energy storage systems (BESS) operational by 2030 across the UK on the distribution network. With around 3.4 GW already operational, it is likely that 7.6 GW in the pipeline will be made offers to connect pre-2030 once the reforms are implemented.
The reforms are part of NESO’s plan to help the UK meet the government’s target of clean power by 2030. The CP2030 includes reforms to the grid connection process, infrastructure build and the planning and consenting process along with a reformed queue management process.
The proposal, now accepted by OFGEM, is to prioritise ready-to-build projects, however research completed by Root-Power demonstrates there is already far more than 7.6 GW of fully consented BESS waiting to connect, with massive oversubscriptions meaning many fully consented, ready-to-build projects will miss out on a pre-2030 connection date and many will also miss out on a pre-2035 connection date.
Root-Power’s queue analysis and research has identified the full list of 7.6 GW of projects which it believes will make up this pre-2030 pipeline, the size of the projects, and who owns them. Root-Power is the only IPP on the list with more than 200 MW due to the fall in merit.
Neil Brooks, Managing Director at Root-Power, responded: “It is clear the market is heading for consolidation and there will be a need for developers to rapidly sell their project developments to IPPs who have the capabilities to finance and build them. However, projects due to connect before the end of 2026 have limited certainty around their connection date and this may impact the decision making when it comes to these acquisitions.”
Brooks continued: “The CP2030 reforms will create great opportunities for the storage sector. However, once revised connection offers are issued, now likely to be early 2026, they will come with stringent commitment milestones, meaning developers who have limited means to deliver against these milestones must now look to divest of these developments.”
Root-Power’s research found:
- There are 90 individual project owners across the 173 individual projects which make up the 7.6 GW due to connect on the Distribution Network.
- 52 of the 90 project owners only have a single project in merit.
- 38 of the 173 projects (~1 GW) are under 50 MW in size.
- Of the 90 project owners, around 65% are developers or consultancies and 35% are IPPs with in-house development capability.
- Of the 7.6 GW likely to receive pre-2030 offers, 4.4 GW are owned by developers and only 2.8 GW by IPPs.
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Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/energy-storage/16042025/neso-reforms-to-see-76-gw-of-bess-given-pre-2030-connection-dates/
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