SOLUTIONS FOR FUTUREPROOFING GRID CONNECTIONS ROUND TABLE REVIEW 45
said that members’ knowledge gap around PVs meant that “because planning is so complicated, they just get a consultant to deal with the grid impact.” He added that the growing numbers of IDNOs (who aren’t restricted geographically), was “benefi cial, as they can offer connections more quickly, and give a timeline for connections.’’ However, Wojtulewicz cautioned that he thought SMEs will be confronted by costly queues, with larger sites of 500-2000 homes prioritised, particularly if they are feeding electricity back.” He said there was “real uncertainty” for smaller builders, while “most members don’t understand what the potential barriers are, the delay will kill sites.”
designs overengineered to the point of seeming prohibitive; solutions may be more achievable than many realise. John Hadley, growth & transformation manager at E.ON Energy, detailed how its new DynamiX solution dynamically manages homes’ power demand, and could enable many more schemes to progress. The assembled experts quizzed him on the new system, and the insights collated here are worth reading for any developer looking to mitigate their electricity connection challenges. The round table delegates didn’t shy away from the key ‘pain points’ in schemes, but also looked at how approaches such as a renewed focus on regional electrical infrastructure planning could be helping, allied to a potentially less likely but worthwhile approach to valuing energy in housebuilding.
Connecting the dots The fi rst session of the debate looked at the big picture of electricity connections currently, as well as the generation background, to update and inform housebuilders. John Hadley of E.ON set the scene, revealing the UK’s energy demand was set to double by 2060, while renewable generation needed to rise from 58% currently to 85% in the next 20 years.
He said the necessary reinforcement of the grid “will take time,” but housebuilding is on a “drive for electrifi cation.” He said the practical answer was solutions which “fl ex the grid,” in order to release “pockets of capacity that may be on the site that could be used somewhere else.” While the ability to “distribute that energy” is currently limited, Hadley asserted that DynamiX, E.ON’s new system, was a means to do just that.
Dan Neasham of the Future Homes Hub and Rico Wojtulewicz of the NFB agreed that there was a “knowledge gap” among many housebuilders on the electrical connection process, which could be a cause of misconceptions around the potential likelihood of connections being granted by network operators. In turn, Neasham said this also led to them “not “engaging as early as they should do with Distribution Network Operators,” who control who is prioritised in queues for connections. He added: “If developers were encouraged to engage a bit earlier, they would often realise there are mitigations available.”
He revealed the Future Homes Hub was “working with DNOs, “and increasingly IDNOs [Independent Distribution Network Operators],” to produce guidance for housebuilders “around the connection and engagement process.” He echoed John Hadley’s comments that the impact of exporting electricity to the grid from roof-mounted PVs “shouldn’t be underestimated,” for its potential to “saturate the export capacity of the upstream infrastructure.” Rico Wojtulewicz, representing SME housebuilders at the NFB,
The exponential growth in heat pumps across housebuilding, driven by the Future Homes Standard, is causing a particular energy demand issue. Wojtulewicz said SME builders who “have been installing heat pumps for years now can’t get connections, because the big boys are ordering them.”
The Government recently reformed the criteria for prioritising the oversubscribed connections queue. The National Energy Systems Operator (NESO) and Ofgem agreed that projects being “ready and needed” would be the deciding factors for them to be connected, rather than the previous fi rst-come, fi rst-served criteria. Wojtulewicz said volume builders would again win, as “if you’re a larger site feeding stuff back in, you’re deemed a strategic energy generator.” Tobias Burke, representing energy industry body Energy UK, addressed the queue issue as well as giving insights on possible Government guidance on connections and grid reinforcement, as “even the energy sector had a knowledge gap at the DNO level around how the queue forms.” He explained that “strategic reform” was on the way, but the Government is “currently prioritising supply and generation,” not demand. Rico Wojtulewicz wondered whether DNOs would be “advising councils not to permit an application,” adding that there were further key issues around whether landowner-owned sites will be “deemed more appropriate, even without a developer attached.” Burke said the upcoming Transitional Regional Energy System Plan due late 2025 would see a return to regional planning of energy, and see “a lot of this borne out, although there’s still a lot of uncertainty as to what exact form [its local stakeholder groups] would take.” Hoare Lea’s Laurence Johnson said he was “worried” by the lack of clear prioritisation for the delivery side in the upcoming Planning & Infrastructure Act, and cited an example of a hospital project which was beaten by a data centre in the queue. He said “diffi cult decisions would have to be made” to get housing schemes underway, and Tobias Burke concurred that there is a “bit of a black hole in terms of what prioritising demand looks like.” In addition to the Government’s clean power targets, Dan Neasham said that Future Homes Standard compliant homes would see “signifi cant ramp up of delivery in 2028 and 2029.”
Overengineering & data
A key practical issue for housebuilders is whether the demand on specifi c developments – and therefore their energy capacity requirements – are being overestimated. Dan Neasham referred to a major study that the Future Homes Hub is doing on in-use heat pump performance, covering 3000 plots and 22 sites. He said that while it is ongoing, there is a “signifi cant gap between as-designed and observed performance.” Laurence Johnson commented; “smaller builders might not have access to the data and knowledge,” adding; “People think ‘I’ve got an electric charger, I’ve got a heat pump, and the home is all electric, with more gadgets in it than ever before; I need 20 kW’ – and it looks
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