The electricity network has become constrained across much of the UK, which has led to high connection and network reinforcement costs being offered to developers, making projects unviable.
In March 2013 Ofgem proposed that developers apply for grid reinforcement as a consortium to reduce the cost of grid reinforcement to individual developers.
Project duration: March to November 2015
So Regen worked in partnership with Western Power Distribution (WPD) to trial a consortium approach to a gaining a grid connection in a constrained area of the network in Bridgwater, Somerset.
Regen facilitated the formation of a consortium. More than a dozen developers expressed an interest but were wittled down to three that were ready to go ahead. The consortium application was submitted to WPD by Regen in May 2015.
A grid connection offer was made to the consortium in August 2015, but was withdrawn in November 2015 due to a number of factors, which were fed back to Ofgem and WPD. Full details of learning from the trial can be found in the report below.
Regen SW Bridgwater Consortium Grid Connection Trial Final Report (1)
Lead by: Merlin Hyman
Contact: mhyman@regensw.co.uk
