Last week, Locogen attended Energy Technology Live in Birmingham. Our focus was on better understanding the challenges and opportunities faced by the increased demand for flexibility in the UK energy infrastructure due to the renewable transition.

Here, our CEO, Andrew Lyle, gives is his key takeaways about how reforms will play out in practice and what they mean for project timelines:

• Improve skip rates to combat wasted energy and negative public opinion
• Could standardised designs accelerate progress?
• Unlock low-hanging fruit: streamline smaller-scale projects
• The majority of protected transmission-connected projects face delays
• Book in your outages as soon as possible
• Prompt procurement is pivotal to meeting our 2030 targets

Improve skip rates to combat wasted energy and negative public opinion

A skip is where the system operator bypasses cheaper, flexible assets for more expensive ones when balancing supply and demand on the network. A skip might happen for any number of reasons, including grid constraints, asset limitations or operational decisions, and results in wasted energy and higher costs for the consumer.
 
At the show, one prominent example was given where two Scottish BESS projects were skipped by the system operator in favour of the more expensive option of curtailing wind farms, leading to the loss of around 270GWh of generation – an amount that could have powered up to 100,000 homes for a year (based on an average consumption of 2,700 kWh electricity per UK household annually).

High skip rates and the correlating energy loss has often attracted negative attention in the press. However, NESO currently has no incentives in place for system operators to reduce their skip rates, nor penalties for wasting energy. Introducing stronger accountability could help reduce wasted energy, lower consumer bills, and improve public perception; helping to counter the negative narrative currently affecting the renewables and flexibility sectors.

Could standardised designs accelerate progress?

With grid connection delays being one of the dominant limiting factors facing renewable project investment and development today, methods to reduce these delays were a hot topic of conversation. Specifically, there was chat around the standardisation of the design process as a tool. It is well known in the industry that each DNO, and even teams within a specific DNO, takes a different approach to design, and what is accepted by one is not always accepted by others. This can lead to the design process taking significantly longer than necessary, wasting both time and resources for developers.

Standardising the approach to design and procurement, and for containerised substations, across all DNOs could eliminate that uncertainty and accelerate the process. Taking our lead from other countries and developing a pre-approved offsite manufactured containerised substations – instead of building bespoke at every site – could significantly reduce cost and timescales for grid connections.

Unlock low-hanging fruit: streamline smaller-scale projects

In England and Wales, sub 5MW Total Installed Capacity (TIC) projects and distribution-connected projects that are not subject to transmission network upgrades are currently caught up in the Gate 2 to Whole Queue grid reform process (G2tWQ) assessment process. Previously, it was recognised that these smaller projects are faster to build, and sub 5MW TIC projects were fast-tracked under CMP446 modifications aiming to streamline their connections and alleviate congestion in the queue. However, these projects are now likely to be some of the last to receive connection dates and begin construction.
 
Due to their nature, these smaller-scale projects are better positioned to progress, and are the low-hanging fruit in our transition to clean energy. They should be helped rather than hindered and be supported to proceed without delay.

The majority of protected transmission-connected projects face delays

It was interesting to hear Roadknight Taylor’s comment that 62% of protected transmission-connected projects have been delayed through G2tWQ. It’s important to consider the impact this may have on distribution-connected projects that are subject to transmission network upgrades but are still to receive their offers.
 
If DNOs have not clearly communicated the impact of transmission upgrade delays, this could come as a surprise to affected distribution-connected projects with knock-on effects on later project milestones. Yet again, we heard repeated calls for greater transparency in the reform process to provide clarity on timelines, as well as the need for realistic delivery schedules once connection dates are received.
 
 
Book in your outages as soon as possible

A potential bottleneck risk for developments could be booking in outages for connection and energisation in the coming years. As lots of projects come on line between 2027 and 2030, failure to book in outages early could result in significant delays to energisation, resulting in significant repercussions for developers. There was a strong recommendation to get ahead of the game here and book in outages as soon as possible.
 

Prompt procurement is pivotal to meeting our 2030 targets

Lead time on key electrical equipment continues to be a key issues for projects, with waits commonly at 12-18 months – and even over 2 years for certain components, such as 132kV transformers. Whilst this is not a new problem, there’s a risk this will become worse once grid offers start to come through due to the large volume of work to be delivered by 2030. The advice was to get ahead of the curve and start procurement as soon as possible in order to avoid additional delays.
 
If you need help with getting your project operational, our Engineering & Construction team can support with ICP and electrical balance of plant procurement, and more.

If you’d like to find out more about Locogen’s tailored advice and support throughout the project lifecycle, contact us here or email us at [email protected].