The energy industry is now on the verge of a significant change, with 2025 bringing the implementation of Connections Reform in Great Britain (GB). On 20th December, NESO submitted two CUSC Final Modification Proposals to Ofgem for approval for CMP 434: Implementing Connections Reform, and CMP 435: Application of Gate 2 Criteria to existing contracted background.
Why change?
The GB Connections Reform proposals have been developed to address the rising number of generators waiting to connect to the grid – often referred to as the “connections queue”. Under the current ‘first come, first served’ process, the rate of connection applications has far exceeded the pace at which the NESO, Transmission Owners (TOs), and Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) can get projects connected to their networks, leading to a backlog of generation in the queue far greater than will be needed to meet the country’s energy demands by 2050.
CMP 434 – Looking Forwards
CMP 434: Implementing Connections Reform sets out the new grid connection process which aims to facilitate faster connections through a strategically planned electricity system and a future-proofed process. The new process will move from a principle of ‘first come, first served’ to ‘first ready and needed, first connected’, and will involve a biannual application window and gated application process. This is an evolution of the original proposals for reform, which originally only set out to apply a ‘first ready, first connected’ principle.
Under the reformed process, new applications must pass two gates.
Gate 1
Gate 1 will be an optional administrative gate intended to be used by large projects such as offshore wind farms and interconnectors to give early connection details. The criteria for meeting Gate 1 is largely the same as the current requirements for making a connection application to NESO:
- A Letter of Authority and red line boundary diagram must be submitted with the Connection Application which meets the minimum acreage requirements for the generator site.
- Offshore Projects will require a Letter of Acknowledgement from The Crown Estate or The Crown Estate Scotland, as applicable.
Projects which go through the Gate 1 process will receive a Gate 1 offer containing indicative details of the connection (indicative capacity, connection date, and point of connection). Conditional clauses will be placed in the Gate 1 contracts to add in further details such as user commitment and queue management milestones when the project passes Gate 2.
Gate 2
Gate 2 offers will be “full” connection offers, like those issued under the old connections process. Projects who apply to Gate 2 and can prove they have met the Gate 2 criteria will receive a Gate 2 offer. The Gate 2 criteria are summarised below:
- Readiness
- Land – Projects must meet the minimum acreage requirements as set out by NESO, provide a red line boundary of the site, and have secured land rights for the site (either an option agreement, existing ownership, or existing land lease), OR;
- Planning – Submission of (and validation of) application for planning consent for projects following the Development Consent Order (DCO) process.
- Strategic Alignment:
- Aligned with CP30 – Projects which align with the permitted capacities set out for each technology type on a regional basis in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan. This is discussed in more detail below, OR;
- Projects Eligible for Protections – Protected projects include those contracted to connect before the end of 2026, those which are deemed to be significantly progressed (applied for planning consent before 20/12/2024 and received planning consent by May 2025, or hold a CfD or Capacity Market contract), and those which obtain planning consent after the closure of the CMP 435 gated application window, OR;
- Designated Projects – Projects considered by NESO as having significant benefits to the GB energy system and energy consumers. This includes being critical to security of supply or system operation; projects which reduce network constraints, highly innovative projects or projects with long lead times which may be needed beyond 2035, OR;
- Not in Scope – Projects which are not in the scope of the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, this includes transmission connected demand, Wave, Tidal and Non-GB generation.
The key differences between Gate 1 and Gate 2 offers are shown in the table below.
Applications will need to be submitted in one of two application “windows” which NESO will run each year (one every 6 months). This will allow NESO and the Transmission Owners (TOs) to assess applications in a batch and design the network holistically. Exact timescales will be subject to the timing of Ofgem’s approval, but as a guide NESO expect Gate 1 offers to be issued around 3 months after the start of application window, and Gate 2 offers to be issued around 8 months after the start of the application wind. These windows will be open to applications for both Gate 1 and Gate 2 offers.
Figure 1: Indicative Timeline of Application Windows Under CMP 434
Embedded generators will not be limited by application windows and can submit applications for connection to the distribution network at any time. Small and medium embedded generators will not go through Gate 1 and will apply straight to Gate 2 once they have provided evidence of meeting the Gate 2 Readiness Criteria (this can be submitted to their respective DNOs at any time). Large embedded projects seeking a BEGA or BELLA offer will be required to apply directly to NESO during an application window, but must have an accepted connection agreement with the DNO before doing so.
In the new process, Modification Applications (ModApps) for projects at the Gate 2 stage will be required to be submitted within the application windows but will not be needed by projects which only hold a Gate 1 offer.
CMP 435 – Looking Backwards
To accompany the changes to the application process being made under CMP434, CMP 435 will retrospectively apply this new process to the generators in the existing connections queue (a process being referred to as “Gate 2 to Whole Queue” by NESO). The new process would potentially be rendered useless until after the 2030s if the new ‘first ready and needed, first connected’ principle wasn’t applied to the generators already waiting to connect.
Under CMP 435, generators in the queue will be expected to submit evidence of meeting Gate 2 Readiness Criteria by a given deadline – expected to be in Q2 2025 and likely May. If the projects meet the Gate 2 Readiness Criteria they will be considered within the first batched assessment by NESO/TOs/DNOs and assessed against the Gate 2 Strategic Alignment Criteria. All projects which meet both the Gate 2 Readiness Criteria AND the Strategic Alignment Criteria will receive a Gate 2 connection offer and a new position in the newly reordered queue. Those which fail to meet the Gate 2 criteria will have their current connection agreement transitioned into a new Gate 1 style contract, losing their current queue position.
Projects which do not receive a Gate 2 offer under the Gate 2 to Whole Queue process will be able to apply for Gate 2 at the next available application window (under CMP 434).
Clean Power 2030 Action Plan – Pathway to 2030
On 13th December 2024, Government published the Clean Power 2030 (CP30) Action Plan, following on from advice published by NESO in November. The plan sets out GB’s pathway to clean power analysing what the country must achieve by 2030 to achieve a clean, secure and affordable electricity supply. The following topics are major areas of recommendation in the pathway to 2030.
CP30 emphasises the ability to effectively plan and manage the delivery of network reinforcement and generation projects to meet the increased demand due to further electrification of industry, heating, and transport.
How does this link to connections reform?
The Connections Reform Annex of the CP30 Action Plan sets out the “permitted” capacity which will be needed to achieve clean power by 2030, broken down by location and technology. As outlined in the previous section, these specified capacities will be used by NESO to judge if a project is Strategically Aligned (or “needed”) under its Gate 2 Strategic Alignment Criteria.
The graphs presented below show the 2030 permitted capacities given in the CP30 connections reform annex, broken down by region and technology for connections to the transmission and distribution networks. Both existing and new projects will have to fit within these given boundaries to be regarded as ‘needed’ by NESO (with the exception of designated projects or those subject to the protections set out in the previous section). The CP30 Action Plan also identifies for 2035, largely based on the 2024 Future Energy Scenarios (FES). Projects which exceed the 2030 permitted capacities but fall within the 2035 ones will be given a connection offer with a date of 2031 to 2035.
The connection dates provided as part of the Gate 2 to Whole Queue process will be determined once the queue has been re-ordered by ‘readiness’ and aligns with the CP30 Action Plan. This will be done by first assigning the ‘protected’ projects a connection date within Phase 1 (2026-2030) or Phase 2 (2031-2035) depending on their existing connection date (or projects can request advancement). The remaining projects will be assigned a place in the queue prioritised by planning status. Projects will be assigned places in the queue until the permitted capacities set out in CP30 are reached, subject to network limitations determined by the TO/DNO. Once the limit for Phase 1 has been reached, the Phase 2 queue will be built until that limit has also been reached. Any remaining projects will not receive a Gate 2 offer. Further applications submitted as part of the enduring CMP434 process will be assigned a queue position under a similar ordering process in the future.
Looking to the future, the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) (expected in 2026) will map out the generation and storage needs of the country, and will inform strategic network planning going forward. The outputs of the SSEP will likely help to set the permitted capacities which dictate the Gate 2 Strategic Alignment Criteria in future application windows beyond 2025/26.
How Can TNEI Assist?
TNEI has extensive experience in the grid connection process and an in-depth understanding of the proposed reforms. Grid Connection support services that TNEI can offer include:
- Pre-application services (e.g. grid-led site finding, site and technology assessments, and feasibility studies in line with the ‘needed’ technologies specified in CP30).
- Connection application preparation and submission within the application windows.
- Gate 1 and Gate 2 offer reviews.
- Independent assessment of Gate 2 evidence.
The reforms are expected to take place from Q2 2025. If you would like to know more about the reforms or how they will affect you, please contact gridconnections@tneigroup.com.
TNEI can also provide a range of additional services to help you with your projects ranging from site finding and feasibility to supporting clients through the planning process (including EIA) and post consent support (including conditions discharge, due diligence and ITE reporting). In particular our team specialise in:
- EIA.
- planning & consenting.
- GIS & mapping.
- noise modelling & assessment.
- shadow flicker.
- glint & glare.
- socio economic assessments.
If you would like to know more about any of these services, please get in touch.
