'Shovel-ready' clean energy projects jump to front of queue

NEW “shovel-ready” wind, solar and battery power projects are jumping to the front of the queue to connect to Britain’s electricity grid, operators said as they unveiled the biggest shakeup of the system to date.

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The existing first-come, first-served approach to the grid connections queue, which operators say has led to unviable and speculative schemes holding up clean energy projects that are ready to plug in, has been scrapped.

The new system will prioritise clean energy projects that can be up and running in the next few years as part of efforts to help Labour hit its target to near-fully power the country with clean electricity by 2030, and to boost economic growth.

The National Energy System Operator (Neso) said projects will start being informed of their status in the new queue from today.

But the reforms also mean hundreds of projects in the old queue will be pushed back and will no longer be given a connection date.