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National Grid delaying the future of onshore wind, Octopus warns
by cityam
NICHOLAS EARL
THE BIGGEST challenge for onshore wind developments is the same as for all renewable projects – the slow speed of connections on the grid, the boss of a leading renewables player has argued.
Zoisa North-Bond, chief executive of Octopus Renewables, criticised the grid as the “biggest limiting factor” rather than planning hurdles and nimbyism.
The energy boss noted that with offshore wind projects, it was taking up to a decade to connect turbines to the energy network.
She argued that the processes of National Grid were obsolete for the challenge of vastly ramping up renewable power in line with energy security and net zero goals.
Current processes are “still based on ones from decades ago, where... maybe there’ll be two or three applications every few years”, rather than the thousands per year now, North-Bond explained.
A National Grid spokesperson said it was “committed to connecting projects to the grid as fast as possible” and was looking at “new ways to speed up the process”.
