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Following a first round of consultation in 2025, the Scottish Government has now released a second Working Paper on Refreshing the Good Practice Principles for Community Benefits from Onshore Renewable Energy – open for consultation until the 25th March 2026.  Here’s a summary of what you need to know: The Working Paper is seeking views on the following: The technologies in scope of the Good Practice Principles (GPPs), and the approach to co-located developments; The community benefits fund levels recommended by the Good Practice Principles; Principles and Guidance for the governance and distribution of community benefit funds; and Measures to support communities and build their capacity to engage with and fully benefit from community benefit funds. The Working Paper summarises the responses received during the first consultation period and sets out proposals to strengthen the Good Practice Principles. As the GPPs are currently based on the commercial viability and maturity

The Scottish Government has published new Hydrogen Planning and Consenting Guidance (February 2026), providing long-awaited clarity on how green and blue hydrogen projects should progress through Scotland’s planning and regulatory system. Importantly, the guidance does not apply to grey hydrogen, which remains unsupported due to unabated emissions. The guidance confirms that hydrogen is now firmly embedded in Scotland’s planning and energy policy framework, with strong support through the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), the Hydrogen Action Plan and national net-zero commitments. In principle, planning authorities are encouraged to take a positive and proportionate approach to hydrogen development — but only where impacts, risks and safety are clearly addressed. A central message throughout the guidance is the critical importance of early pre-application engagement. Developers are strongly encouraged to engage early with planning authorities, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and (where relevant) marine regulators to agree

We’re excited to announce the development of an advanced scenario-based power flow solver with deep uncertainty modelling for load and generation as the result of two years of collaboration between TNEI and Glasgow Caledonian University as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership. This innovative tool was designed to transform network planning for Low Voltage (LV) networks and beyond and will be integrated into TNEI’s IPSA software to further enhance its capabilities for power system planning and analysis. Key highlights of the solver: Unmatched Speed – Executes all scenarios with 100% accuracy while eliminating the need for traditional Monte Carlo simulations –  achieving speed gains of up to three orders of magnitude. Robust Convergence – The unique formulation ensures superior robustness and convergence compared to classical methods. Scalability – Accurately handles complex, multiphase networks and components with ease. LV Network Planning – Enables smarter, more efficient planning of low-voltage networks for future energy systems. We are also

2025 was a year of significant change in the energy industry, with GB Connections Reform (CMP 434 and CMP 435) overhauling the connections process for generation and large scale demand. With so much to keep track of last year, you’d be forgiven for having missed another code modification which was approved by Ofgem on 8th December – the same day that NESO announced the results of the CMP 434 queue formation process! CMP 448 introduces what is known as the Progression Commitment Fee (PCF): a new financial incentive (or financial burden, depending on your point of view) to be implemented in the reformed connection process from January 2026. But what is the PCF, and how might it affect your project?  What is the aim of the modification? The PCF aims to encourage projects which have accepted a Gate 2 offer to continue progressing to connection, preventing a backlog of stalled

After a long period of uncertainty, you might have just received your gated offer notification this week. If you were fortunate enough to get a Gate 2 notification for any of your projects you will be keen to get the offer accepted and crack on with developing the project as soon as possible – it’s as easy as that, right? …right?? In this edition of TNEI on Grid we dive into the expected contents of the updated gated offers and give you our top tips on what to look out for. Connections Reform Results On Monday (8th December), NESO announced the results of the new queue formation process, with the pipeline of generation and storage projects across Great Britain (GB) cut down to 283 GW from over 700 GW pre-connections reform. Some of the highlights: Batteries are around three time oversubscribed compared to the Clean Power 2030 target for 2035,

TNEI provided project management, planning and environmental services and support to Wilson Renewables III for an application for Section 36 consent for a 10-turbine onshore wind development named Bankend Rig III Wind Farm.  Bankend Rig III Wind Farm is located within an area of commercial forestry and open moorland approximately 4.75 km to the north of Muirkirk, South Lanarkshire and has a proposed total generating capacity of up to 66 MW (comprising 10 no. 6.6 MW wind turbines of up to 250 m to blade tip). The application was submitted under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 and due to the nature and scale of the development, an EIA was required to be submitted as part of the application.   TNEI’s appointment on BERIII Wind Farm followed on from previous work which TNEI undertook in delivering Bankend Rig Wind Farm (an 11-turbine onshore wind development of up 14.3 MW which was energised in 2013) and Bankend