Looking ahead in reforming the connections process
Blog
- Jack Presley Abbott
- Deputy Director – System Planning and Connections
- Publication date
- Industry sector
- Distribution Network
- Transmission Network
Related links
As we start a new year, it feels timely to reflect on all that has been achieved in connections reform during 2024.
This time last year, the Connections Action Plan had just been published, and we had just had our first meeting of the Connections Delivery Board. One year later, we have seen significant changes in all action areas with support from the board. Most notably, we have now seen the proposed package of connections reforms come to Ofgem for decision.
These reforms look to ensure our connections system works to get the right projects connected quicker in the right places. We expect this to bring benefits to consumers, including the acceleration of net zero objectives, lower costs and increased security of supply.
In this blog, we’ll reflect on the key actions in 2024 and signpost what we can expect for the year ahead. As always, we’ll also provide an overview of our latest Board meeting and the actions we’ll be driving forward over the coming months.
Reflection on the year
It has been a significant year in the connections reform space. We have built on the Connections Action Plan and developed policy to deliver on the plan objectives, namely to provide connection dates that better meet customers’ needs and have a connections pipeline that is more consistent with net zero goals.
The beginning of the year saw measures to raise the requirements to enter the connections queue, with the introduction of the ‘Letter of Authority’ requirement. In addition, the code change proposals to introduce readiness criteria as part of the First Ready, First Connected approach (referred to as TMO4+) were raised.
The change of government in July and the announcement of the Clean Power Action Plan 2030 provided an opportunity to strengthen and bring forward strategic alignment of the connections queue with what is needed for the future network. Ofgem’s vision for this was set out in our open letter in September: moving to a First Ready and needed, First Connected approach. The letter signalled our preferred path for delivering this through a mix of licence changes and methodology documents.
Ofgem’s end-to-end review of the connections process consultation was published in November 2024. This review aims to improve the connections customer experience and complement the ongoing reforms to the connections process. We have taken on board the views we have heard from industry on competing pressures through December and January and have extended the deadline date to 12 February (with views on T3 metrics still required in January). It is critical the end-to-end review receives as full and detailed a set of responses as possible.
There has also been strong progress made on creating a series of ‘single digital view’ on connections. A single digital view will provide better data for future projects to understand where and when they could connect. We expect these tools to help reduce speculative applications and drive offers more aligned with requested dates. NESO for transmission and each distribution network delivered a digital view of their connections queues at the end of the 2024. The expectation is for these tools to evolve as required to provide information that is most helpful for customers.
Connections Delivery Board overview
As of December, the connections queue stands at 739 gigawatts (GW), up from 701GW when we published the first connections blog post back in March 2024. Though the rate of growth has slowed down significantly relative to 2022 and 2023, when over 160GW was added to the queue each year, the continuing rise only further demonstrates the importance of connections reform.
The Board discussed several updates relating to TMO4+, including the government’s Clean Power Action Plan 2030 and introducing a potential financial instrument to the reformed connections process. It is important that we keep thinking beyond 2030 and what will be needed to connect in the future, whilst still being able to provide flexibility for current well-developed projects through an improved connections process.
Two papers were also brought to the Board. The first was on the digital view of connections mentioned above, which industry and other interested parties have the chance to feed into as part of the end-to-end review. The second was on storage modelling to better understand their impact on the system and to unlock additional connections opportunities. NESO will be assessing the anticipated impacts of the storage assumptions that have been made and reporting back in due course.
As always, the full meeting minutes will be available on the Ofgem Connections Delivery Board – Energy Networks Association (ENA) website.
The year ahead
This year, we move from policymaking to decision and implementation. All being well, we will transition to the reformed connection process in spring 2025. This will require the finalisation of licence changes and the approval of code modifications and methodologies.
Our policy consultation on licence changes closed on Monday 6 January, and we are now working through the responses.
We expect to soon publish:
- our statutory consultation on proposed licence changes
- an impact assessment on the package of reforms
- our minded-to decisions on the code modifications and methodologies
Our end-to-end review is open until 12 February 2025. As mentioned in previous blog posts, we strongly encourage stakeholders to engage with the consultation process.
Later this month, we will have our first Board meeting of the year where we will discuss the future of the Connections Delivery Board and how we adapt the Board to ensure it continues to provide valuable input in the connections space in 2025 and beyond.
Thank you once again to everyone who has worked on the connections reforms to date.