Six trade bodies in the UK energy sector have written to the Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy asking for his personal leadership to address constraints on the electricity network.
The letter from Regen, Electricity Storage Network, Solar Energy UK, The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology, Scottish Renewables, and Renewable UK warned Grant Shapps MP that energy projects are facing delays of up to fifteen years due to capacity constraints on the electricity transmission network. The trade bodies are concerned that this is delaying billions of pounds of private investment needed to deliver on the UK government’s targets for renewable energy generation, electricity storage, heat pumps and electric vehicle rapid chargers.
The trade bodies want the secretary of state to enable a shift towards strategic investment in the electricity networks. They also want him to ask for a CEO-led plan from the system operator and transmission and distribution networks to implement immediate measures to address constraints.
Meanwhile the EU has acted to shorten deadlines to approve new installations, Euractiv reports.
The European Parliament voted in favour of plans for “renewables acceleration areas”, which will be determined by each EU country depending on local circumstances. In these areas connection should take no more than nine months. Following the “positive silence” principle, the request will be deemed approved in case the competent authority does not respond before the deadline. Outside of these areas, the acceleration process should not exceed 18 months.
Under the proposal, renewable energy projects will be considered of “overriding public interest” and can therefore benefit from simplified procedures and specific derogations from the EU’s environmental legislation.
In addition, EU countries will have to make sure that permits to install solar energy equipment on buildings are delivered within one month.