Wind and solar farms are forced to wait to have their sites connected to the electricity grid with local opposition and protests often a problem, it was said.
Experts warned that this is slowing the transition to clean energy and delaying Britain’s environmental targets.
An official report, commissioned by the Government and written by former National Grid boss Nick Winser, was released yesterday.
It said it was “both vital and challenging” to ensure the speeding up of new grid connections. The report said that getting local communities on board for new energy schemes should also include some kind of direct benefit for them.
It suggested paying lump sums to individual households close to these projects with community funds that can be spent to upgrade people’s homes.
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Mr Winser said: “Delivering new wind power will be a major step towards decarbonising our economy and providing customers with clean, affordable electricity.
“But that magnificent achievement will be wasted if we cannot get the power to homes and businesses.
“The implications of being able to build wind generation faster than the associated connections to customers will be serious – very high congestion costs for customers and clean, cheap domestic energy generation standing idle, potentially for years. I believe that we must reduce the overall timescale.”
“I am confident that this is achievable as long as we streamline the process as proposed in the report and take a transparent, respectful and efficient approach when engaging with people and communities about the impact.”
Adam Berman, deputy director of Energy UK – the trade body for the industry – said: “Cutting the time to plan and build network infrastructure is arguably the most pressing challenge facing the energy transition. We encourage the Government to respond to these recommendations with urgency.”
Dan McGrail, chief executive of green trade group RenewableUK, said: “Our electricity network is the single biggest barrier to delivering a zero-carbon power system by 2035.”
“So we’re pleased that this timely report puts forward a series of constructive measures to speed up the pace at which the UK builds vital new grid infrastructure. These recommendations will benefit billpayers across the country.”
Energy Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We must ensure we are taking full advantage of our success and getting the increased supply of homegrown, clean energy that we have at our fingertips to people’s homes and businesses for years to come.
“That is why we asked Nick Winser to carry out this review.”
“This is another important step as we continue to reform our energy system to drive down bills, grow the economy and ensure tyrants like Putin can never again use energy as a weapon of war.”
