Projects that drive growth and jobs will be powered up faster as government consults on new powers to clamp down on speculative electricity grid connection applications.
The queue for demand connections to the transmission network has been swamped with applications, growing by 460% in the six months to June 2025. Speculative applications are inflating the pipeline, delaying connections for strategically important projects. This has contributed to waits of up to 15 years for projects to connect to the grid.
To address this, the government is consulting on measures to tackle speculative applications, address the oversubscribed queue, and accelerate viable projects that will benefit Britain. This includes data centres and AI Growth Zones, EV charging hubs and electrified industrial sites to revitalise Britain’s industrial heartlands.
These measures will support the government’s clean energy superpower mission and maintain energy security by tackling backlogs in the queue, while unblocking projects that are vital to innovation, economic growth and decarbonisation.
This builds on major progress over the past year to clean up the connections queue for clean energy projects – cutting it by more than half – and on new powers secured through the Planning and Infrastructure Act to prioritise investment-critical projects, delivering on an Industrial Strategy commitment.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks said, “Industries that can bring real economic benefits are ready and waiting to be powered up, but the queue for grid connections has grown exponentially due to speculative applications.
“We will prioritise the projects, including AI datacentres and industrial sites, that are ready and needed to deliver growth and jobs for communities across Britain.”
AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said, “The AI revolution is already making breakthroughs from health to clean energy, a reality. The UK is home to Europe’s leading AI ecosystem, with firms like Nscale and Wayve pulling in billions of pounds worth of investment.
“Delivering data centres – which we’re turbo-charging through our AI Growth Zones – is fundamental to this work, and all of this relies on access to the grid. These timely reforms will help us move at pace, to seize AI’s potential to help build a wealthier and fairer Britain.”
As well as prioritising connections for key projects, the reforms aim to create a fairer, more efficient system by:
- Strengthening the conditions for joining and remaining in the queue, to tackle speculative applications. Ofgem will shortly be consulting on its preferred conditions, which could include increasing the financial requirements for developers in the queue, such as deposits or fees which would be payable if key milestones are not met.
- Enabling government to publish a list of strategically important projects including AI Growth Zones, which will be at the front of the queue as capacity is freed up or created.
- Moving to a strategically aligned process for data centre connections, so the government can deliver on its AI ambitions while balancing the needs of the energy system. For example, prioritising connections for facilities that are close to parts of the grid with high capacity, reducing the need for unnecessary new infrastructure.
The government is also delivering the Connections Accelerator Service, an Industrial Strategy commitment which is supporting key projects, from data centres and manufacturers to prisons and hospitals, to secure a faster connection – with further updates expected later this year.
Planned AI Growth Zone reforms will provide priority access to the available capacity on the grid, with data centres in some AI Growth Zone locations benefitting from significant discounts on their electricity bills. Developers could also be supported to connect their own high voltage lines and substations to power their data centres – rather than waiting for network operators to do it – driving down costs and accelerating progress.
It follows the government’s once-in-a-generation reforms to clean up the queue for clean energy projects looking to connect to the grid, which grew ten-fold in just five years.
The National Energy System Operator has now cut the queue by over half by prioritising the projects that are ready and needed to help deliver clean power by 2030, with new grid connection offers currently going out to developers. This will help unlock £40 billion a year of mainly private investment while saving billpayers £5 billion by removing the need for unnecessary grid reinforcement.
Alongside this, the government is delivering the biggest upgrade in Great Britain’s electricity network in decades to help deliver clean power, end reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets, and bring down bills for good.
Kayte O’Neill, Chief Operating Officer of NESO, said, “The surge in demand applications shows the strength of investment interest across Great Britain, but the demand connections pipeline must reflect projects that are credible, ready and committed to progressing.
“We are committed to working with government, industry and Ofgem to prioritise strategically important projects, while removing speculative applications. This will ensure data centres, industrial sites and vital public services can access clean, reliable power, while also supporting growth, innovation and jobs across Britain.
