MediaResponding to the Government’s pledge to remove ‘zombie’ projects from the National Grid connection queue, Sam Richards, CEO of pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade said:
"Any steps to speed up the time it takes for infrastructure projects to secure a grid connection are welcome news. It's ridiculous that projects which will never get off the ground are allowed to squat in the grid queue year after year, simply by paying a few thousand pounds, while much needed new energy sources and growth-driving AI data centres are forced to wait years for a connection.
Ministers prioritising economy-boosting and clean energy-producing projects in the grid connection queue is an important first step. But the Government can’t run the queue forever and should look at introducing more market mechanisms to allow priority projects to bid to move up the line - without this hundreds of millions of pounds will be wasted paying wind turbines to turn off while other clean energy projects continue to languish in the queue.”