Not only did the Chancellor reinforce Johnson's funding pledge for Sizewell C, but the Energy Security Strategy from April has stayed in place, alongside its highly ambitious targets for renewable generation.
This includes vast plans for offshore wind and solar power, with the government aiming for 50GW and 70GW of both power sources by 2030 and 2035 respectively to boost the country's energy independence and meet its environmental goals.
However, without reform,
This raises the question of whether
In his view, there were three things
But such a scale-up will be highly dependent on National Grid building the necessary power lines, storage facilities and interconnectors to distribute power across the country, including shifting historic amounts of offshore wind power from the
Wilson called for developers of energy projects and the
"When we see these developments coming, such as offshore wind leases, we need to be able to start planning to reinforce the grid - and construct that reinforcement in parallel with developers working on their projects and before the connection request," Wilson said.
He was also in favour of financial support for communities facing inconvenience from new projects to reduce opposition to vital infrastructure.
Wilson said: "If you are impacted by local infrastructure, it is only right that there should be community investment to come hand in hand with that."
His comments echoed
This means there will be an increasing need to build more transmission infrastructure, such as power pylons or underground copper cables, quickly.
"The regulatory structures we have in place don't allow for that pace of deployment," Wharton warned, adding that the regulatory regime is too focused on "minimising cost today rather than seeing the long-term value in the network".
Speeding up the planning process for rolling out transmission infrastructure seems like a no-brainer for
While the government has a new strategy in place, the latest NPS was established under the former energy and climate department back in 2010-11.
"It's very important that NPS is updated and reflects the amount of renewable generation that is required, but also references the network required to connect it - and the current ones don't do that," Wilson said.
"They focus on generation; they do not focus on networks."
As things stand, proposed new renewable energy projects enter the Transmissions Entry Capacity queue, which are approved on a first come first serve basis, rather than whether they are fully funded and ready to go.
But if projects want to exit the queue, due to issues with funding or planning, they face financial penalties. This system has led to viable renewable energy projects being delayed - with nervous project managers in the queue fearing losses if they step aside.
To address this,
Wilson conceded, however, that the queue process might need some further tweaking in order to get more renewable projects up and running, and connected, quicker.
GRID'S MONOPOLY POWER Despite National Grid's recent reforming zeal, the group is not without its critics.
Octopus Energy's boss
He argued there should be more options for developers looking to connect their projects to the
She said: "If you know the best place for your wind farm and the place that people want it - that is good for birds and good for catching wind - if it is on a bit of the network that is already at capacity, then you have to wait a very, very long time to get to get a connection to get to get an upgrade."
The energy expert also questioned whether
Fletcher said: "For example, putting storage next to a wind farm might be a more effective and cheaper way of dealing with the impact of that wind farm on the grid than putting more copper in the ground. But the network companies - clues in the name - are hardwired to think about particular solutions."
She warned there was a risk in defaulting "to the same old same old solutions", which might not be the most cost effective.
These remarks reflect the daunting challenge ahead for
The regulatory structures we have in place don't allow for the necessary pace of deployment
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