The UK Government will compensate homeowners that support the construction of new high-voltage power lines near their properties in an effort to accelerate upgrades to the country’s grid.
In August, Electricity Networks Commissioner Nick Winser published a report suggesting 18 measures the government could take to help clear the grid of backlog after it found that “every part” of the grid upgrade process “must – and can – be dramatically improved”. One of the measures proposed included offering homeowners “generous compensation” to incentivise local cooperation with infrastructure construction.
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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will accept most of the recommendations in the report, government insiders told the Financial Times, including that which proposes lump-sum payments to households. The government plans to publish its response to Nick Wisner’s report either in the autumn budget, which will be set out later this month by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, or in a separate statement likely to be delivered by Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho.
Coutinho is also expected to publish a separate statement this month that will look to offer more generous support for the country’s floundering offshore wind industry after this year’s annual renewables auction, held in early September, received no bids for offshore wind in what many critics saw as a major setback to Sunak’s net-zero plans.
The prime minister has set a 2035 target to decarbonise the electricity sector. The severe lack of available grid capacity is considered a major hurdle to this target. Currently, renewable energy sources including wind farms and solar arrays are estimated to have to wait up to 15 years to be connected to the grid.
Former energy eecretary Grant Shapps told BBC News that the government plans to halve the time it currently takes to construct new power lines across the UK. National Grid, the country’s grid operator, has said that five-times more power lines must be built in the next seven years than have been constructed in the past 30 if demand is to be met.
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By GlobalDataRebecca Barnett, director of networks at UK energy regulator Ofgem, said in a statement at the time of Winser’s report: “We need bold reforms to accelerate the delivery of electricity transmission infrastructure needed to end the reliance on fossil fuels for power by 2035.”
