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Almost seven months into the new Government, Labour are powering ahead with their plans to make the UK a clean energy superpower. The Clean Power Action Plan (the Plan), published last month, sets out the UK’s path to a clean power system by 2030.
The Plan focuses on Great Britain. However, it will indirectly impact Northern Ireland as it is being led by Great British Energy.
The Plan seeks to bring greater energy security to the UK market, decreasing reliance on energy from ‘unfriendly countries’ – what the Plan calls ‘homegrown’ energy. This can be seen in Europe as well, with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania unplugging from Russia’s electricity grid, joining the European Union’s network on 9 February 2025.
At a glance
Summary of the Plan
The Plan intends to increase capacity levels from onshore/offshore wind, solar, battery storage and hydro/liquid air energy storage. The overall objectives the Plan sets out are:
In achieving these objectives, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (the DESNZ) has proposed legislative reform. The judicial review process for challenging major infrastructure projects will involve the removal of the paper-based initial permission stage, replacing it with an oral hearing. This is hoped to reduce delays by allowing objections and challenges to be heard together, better reflecting the complex nature of large clean energy projects.
There are concerns about the achievability of the Government’s plans. In a pre-Plan consultation, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) stated that the proposed plans will require an unparalleled level of development if the plans are to be met by 2030. NESO envisions that the deployment of offshore wind will need to double in the next five years from 14GW to 27GW by 2030, if the objectives are to be met.
The Grid – reforming the queue
To accommodate these plans, a major expansion to the UK’s electricity grid will be required. The Government will work with NESO, OFGEM and the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) to fundamentally reform the grid connection process. In collaboration with OFGEM, DESNZ will help bring about a new regulatory landscape. These plans include tightening of incentives and penalties on Transmission Owners and DNOs with the objective of accelerating building up the network. Notably, DESNZ will work closely with OFGEM to ensure penalties are consistently enforced.
The grid connection queue has increased tenfold over the last five years. The Plan recognises that urgent updates are required if new clean power projects are to connect in time before 2030. The queue itself currently works on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. This fails to consider the type or location of energy projects. The Plan will change this by introducing ‘levers’ to consider the type of energy production, their location, and the removal of stalled projects from the queue towards addressing the gridlock.
Measures in Northern Ireland
The grid queue in Northern Ireland is no different. The Northern Ireland Utility Regulator recognised that one of the flaws of the NI grid is that the network itself is only developed when projects become active on it. A typical cluster connection – which allows renewable energy power projects, within a close proximity to connect, resulting in a more stable network – takes more than five years to build and connect in NI. Combined with planning permission and delays which can place an additional three to five years on the process, renewable energy projects have an initial ten-year set-up time.
Although the 2030 Plan will not affect NI directly, with its focus being on Great Britain, NI will still feel an indirect impact as the Plan will be promoted and progressed by Great British Energy (a new publicly-owned company, discussed in our recent article) which intends to operate in NI – with Stormont giving the go ahead in early February this year.
The 2030 Plan comes just less than a year since the NI Executive published its The Path to Net Zero Energy strategy. This strategy focuses on replacing fossil fuels, growing the green economy and delivering new renewable energy projects to meet NI’s Climate Change Act 2022, which has a net-zero gas emissions target of 2050. NI’s renewable industry has already experienced a good deal of investment and growth over the last few years, with 45.8% of NI’s electricity consumption coming from renewable sources in the year ending June 2024, mostly from onshore wind farms.
How we can help
The legal and regulatory implications will need to be considered by businesses operating in the energy sector. A&L Goodbody Northern Ireland can assist clients with all matters concerning the forthcoming regulatory updates. We are experienced in all aspects of renewable energy projects, working alongside our Dublin office to provide an all-Ireland service.
For more information in relation to this topic, please contact Mark Stockdale, Partner, John Palmer, Partner or your usual Energy, Infrastructure & Natural Resources contact.
Date published: 26 February 2025
