The Energy Transition | UK government announces Great British Grid

This week we look at the government’s announcement of Great British Grid, NESO's request to extend the Gate 2 Phase 1 connection offer deadline, and the government's first regional breakdown of solar installation figures.

UK government announces new public grid body

The government has announced plans to establish a new publicly owned body, Great British Grid (GBG), to sit within Great British Energy (GBE). The government has said that it will use both public and private investment to deliver "critical network infrastructure across the country". 

The new body will work alongside network operators to increase competition and aims to speed up the delivery of projects and grid upgrades in order to "remove one of the biggest barriers to clean power and economic growth". GBG's start-up costs will be covered by GBE's existing budget, but its long-term budget will be decided in a future spending review. The government says that GBG is intended to complement, not replace, existing institutions such as Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator (NESO).

The establishment of GBG forms part of a wider reform package to tackle grid connection delays. The government also announced plans to bring forward reforms to expand self-build connections, and to accelerate the competitive tendering of transmission projects. 

NESO requests further extension to Gate 2 Phase 1 connection offer deadline 

Ofgem has approved and consented to the request of NESO for a further extension to the deadline for issuing Gate 2 Phase 1 connection offers under the Gate 2 to Whole Queue, or G2TWQ, process. 

NESO, in a letter dated 25 September, formally asked Ofgem to extend the deadline from 30 September to 31 October. This follows a previous extension that Ofgem granted in response to NESO's earlier letter of 13 May. NESO stated that, having already issued approximately 75% of the offers required, additional time is nonetheless needed to complete the remaining tranche.

NESO attributes part of the delay to a request made by the National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) in July: a two-week extension for their small and medium embedded Grid Supply Point Transmission Owner Construction Offers (TOCOs); and a four-week extension for transmission-connected and large embedded TOCOs. NGET cited complexity and engineering considerations, including the need for further network redesign, as the main drivers of this request. NESO also notes that there are a small number of Gate 2 Phase 1 offers that will require additional time due to customer request.

Up to 37 TOCOs, representing around 10% of all Gate 2 Phase 1 offers, may be affected by the NGET-related delay. Approximately 25 offers require additional time for separate reasons, such as requests from customers where pre-offer discussions highlighted practical grounds for later issuance.

NESO has confirmed a number of mitigations of the impact of this revised deadline. These include proactively contacting impacted customers before issuing the Gate 2 Modification Offer, providing regular status updates and prioritising the most impacted projects. 

Internally, NESO is streamlining the process between the TOCO being received and the Modification Offer being issued. NESO has stated that it does not currently anticipate any knock-on effect on subsequent offer milestones, such as further Gate 1 or Phase 2 offers.

On 2 October, Ofgem confirmed its consent to the revised timetable under electricity system operator licence Standard Condition E12.14(c), agreeing that Gate 2 Phase 1 offers are to be issued by NESO no later than 31 October. Ofgem stated that it is satisfied with the reasons given by NESO and that granting a further, limited extension of time is justified, proportionate and in the interests of consumers.

First regional solar breakdown as installations hit record highs

The government has for the first time published data on solar installations in the UK by region. This follows the legalisation of plug-in solar earlier this year. The data show that almost 172,000 solar installations have been fitted in the UK since the start of 2026 up until the end of August. In July, there were nearly 28,000 installations across homes, businesses and large-scale projects, of which 19,800 of these were rooftop solar panels.

In the regional breakdown of solar deployment, the South East and South West lead with 22,628 and 17,539 installations respectively this year. Over the last 12 months, solar installations have increased in every UK nation and English region. The energy minister, Michael Shanks, said "record numbers of families are installing solar panels to generate clean, homegrown power, helping them cut their energy bills."

This article was written with the assistance of Luna Panella, John McVea and Ellie Cockford, trainee solicitors.