Renewable industry response to the PM's plan to build new gas-fired power stations

Andy Willis of Kona Energy, a leading clean energy development company grappling with grid connection delays, has commented on Rishi Sunak’s plan to build new gas-fired power stations:

"Arguments for/against gas plants aside, on current grid connection processes any new gas stations would be at the back of the queue and therefore would not be connecting until at least 2037.

There are two options - either we wait over a decade for these plants, supposedly in the national interest. Or Government steps in to prioritise them over other projects currently waiting in the queue. The latter is how the system should operate, with shovel-ready developments allowed to move ahead of ‘zombie’ projects which are simply holding a valuable position in the queue.

If a development can get online faster, delivering vital energy security, then that should be given priority. It’s common sense. 

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of building new fossil-fuel powered generation, this story further underlines the desperate need for fundamental reform of how the grid connection process operates. It is simply not fit for purpose, and without doubt the biggest obstacle on our path to Net Zero.”