Reforms will strengthen conditions for joining and remaining in the queue for demand connections, and prioritise projects that deliver growth and jobs
Projects that drive growth and jobs will be powered up faster as government consults on new powers to clamp down on speculative electricity grid connection applications.
The queue for demand connections to the transmission network has been swamped with applications, growing by 460% in the six months to June 2025. Speculative applications are inflating the pipeline, delaying connections for strategically important projects. This has contributed to waits of up to 15 years for projects to connect to the grid.
To address this, the government is consulting on measures to tackle speculative applications, address the oversubscribed queue, and accelerate viable projects that will benefit Britain. This includes data centres and AI Growth Zones, EV charging hubs and electrified industrial sites to revitalise Britain’s industrial heartlands.
These measures will support the government’s clean energy superpower mission and maintain energy security by tackling backlogs in the queue, while unblocking projects that are vital to innovation, economic growth and decarbonisation.
This builds on major progress over the past year to clean up the connections queue for clean energy projects - cutting it by more than half - and on new powers secured through the Planning and Infrastructure Act to prioritise investment-critical projects, delivering on an Industrial Strategy commitment.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks said:
AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said:
As well as prioritising connections for key projects, the reforms aim to create a fairer, more efficient system by:
The government is also delivering the Connections Accelerator Service, an Industrial Strategy commitment which is supporting key projects, from data centres and manufacturers to prisons and hospitals, to secure a faster connection – with further updates expected later this year.
Planned AI Growth Zone reforms will provide priority access to the available capacity on the grid, with data centres in some AI Growth Zone locations benefitting from significant discounts on their electricity bills. Developers could also be supported to connect their own high voltage lines and substations to power their data centres – rather than waiting for network operators to do it – driving down costs and accelerating progress.
It follows the government’s once-in-a-generation reforms to clean up the queue for clean energy projects looking to connect to the grid, which grew ten-fold in just five years.
The National Energy System Operator has now cut the queue by over half by prioritising the projects that are ready and needed to help deliver clean power by 2030, with new grid connection offers currently going out to developers. This will help unlock £40 billion a year of mainly private investment while saving billpayers £5 billion by removing the need for unnecessary grid reinforcement.
Alongside this, the government is delivering the biggest upgrade in Great Britain’s electricity network in decades to help deliver clean power, end reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets, and bring down bills for good.
Kayte O’Neill, NESO Chief Operating Officer said:
Eleanor Warburton, Ofgem Director for Energy System Design and Development said:
Matt Evans, COO and Director of Markets, said:
James Tyler, UK Managing Director, Equinix said: