The Energy Networks Association (ENA) has laid out an industry plan to release enough grid capacity in the next year to decarbonise the UK’s power grid.

The plan will deliver an additional 139GW of capacity on top of the 112GW already added, meaning capacity will exceed the 225GW needed to decarbonise the grid. This will allow enough customers to switch to low-carbon forms of electricity and for the UK to achieve the energy transition by the committed date of 2035.

Lawrence Slade, chief executive of the ENA, said: “The industry action plan we have set out today includes new ways to strengthen and tighten up the application process for connections to ensure only projects with a realistic chance of coming to fruition are approved, as well as a redoubling of efforts to improve coordination between transmission and distribution operators, which we know will be more streamlined and, ultimately, fairer for customers.”

In the ‘Rising toBritain’s Net Zero Challenge: Our fairer and faster connections action plan’report, the ENA states that the decision of Ofgem and the UK Government to launch the Joint Action Plan indicates the commitment of companies and the state to deliver low-carbon energy.

The report highlights major steps that have already been made to free up capacity in the grid, such as 3GW released by adapting storage techniques and 46GW through making network planning processes more coordinated and achievable.

To advance the action plan further, the ENA recommends the strengthening and tightening of the application process by making it more discerning, and improving coordination between transmission and distribution operators.

There are some, however, who believe that the grid in its current form will not suffice for equitable transmission of clean energy. Bret Simon, strategic development analyst at Exodigo, said: “While the energy ecosystem grapples to keep pace with current demands and rising environmental, operational and expansion pressures, COP28 is shining a spotlight on current gaps and future failure points. Traditional centralised, unidirectional distribution models won’t work in the next era of energy.”