The Connections Challenge | The Clean Energy Revolution Podcast S3: E5

How are we connecting more clean energy to the grid?

Connecting more clean energy projects to the electricity grid is one of the most critical challenges in driving the clean energy transition. Legacy ‘first come first served’ approaches, along with a rapid growth in the number of projects looking to connect, have led to stalled, or "zombie" projects waiting in the queue to be connected - so what’s being done to resolve this?

In the UK, Laura discusses the rise in connection applications - and the plans to accommodate them - with Ruth Shaw, Customer and Stakeholder Experience Manager in Electricity Transmission at National Grid. Together they look at groundbreaking projects like Dogger Bank, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, and how these projects are providing the blueprint for a streamlined connections process.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Carolyn is joined by Sandy Grace, Vice President of US Policy and Regulatory Strategy at National Grid, to uncover how the US is tackling similar challenges. Innovative solutions like bi-directional flows and vehicle-to-grid technology are poised to revolutionise the grid. Sandy explains how they work and analyses the need for regulatory reforms to speed up connections to the grid.

[pipstein]

I only listened to the UK centred first half, but what I did listen to didn’t really fill me with great confidence that the transition to renewables has been well managed, thus far. If I understand correctly, the in pipeline plans equate to a ~5times oversupply, a ridiculous state of affairs. How could anyone allow a business process to become so flawed.

[melhiore]

Started to watch it. Survived 12 minutes... This is just corporate blah, blah, blah - talking just for the sake of talking... You use smart words, but you actually avoid answering the main question: what is being done to fix your mess...

[iareid]

National grid,
I simply do not understand why you seem to think this vast expansion of renewable generation is good? You must be aware just how unsuited to grid supply that renwable genertation is.
Sensibly we would not encourage this expansion but try and ensure that more reliable, dispatchable generation is built instead.
The expansion of renewable capacity simply means more support from real generators and that it has made our unit cost so much higher than it should be and far less stable and reliable.