This autumn, thousands of energy projects across England, Scotland and Wales are receiving offers that tell them when they can connect to the grid and what it will cost. It is the final stage of a reform that started with a queue that had grown out of control.
What is Gate 2?
Until recently, grid connections were allocated in the order projects applied, and holding a place in the queue cost developers very little. By the time the reform began, more than 700 GW of projects were waiting to connect, several times what the country will need, many of them with no land, no planning permission and no realistic prospect of being built. Projects that were ready to go had to wait behind these speculative applications, in some cases for connection dates well into the 2030s.
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In December 2025, the National Energy System Operator (NESO), which runs Great Britain’s electricity system, reset the queue through a process known as Gate 2. Every project that had applied by the deadline of 26 August 2025 was checked against two tests. It had to have secured land rights for its site, and it had to fit the government’s Clean Power 2030 plan for its technology and region.
Projects that passed were given Gate 2 status, which means a firm offer with a connection date, a connection point and a price. Projects that failed were placed in Gate 1. They keep a place in the system but have no date and no guarantee, and they can only move up if capacity frees up or they reapply in a later round. Projects with protected status, mostly those already well advanced with connection dates in 2026 or 2027, kept their places regardless.
How big is the new queue?
The reformed pipeline now holds 283 GW of generation and storage projects. Just under half, 132 GW, is due to connect by 2030 in Phase 1, and the remaining 151 GW follows between 2031 and 2035 in Phase 2. On top of that, 99 GW of demand is waiting to connect to the transmission network, most of it from data centres.
To decide how much of each technology could go ahead, NESO checked projects against the ranges set out in Clean Power 2030. For 2030, those ranges allow for 45 GW to 47 GW of solar and 23 GW to 27 GW of batteries. NESO also made the checks region by region. A technology that was still short of its national target could therefore be turned down in an area that already had enough of it.
How did each technology fare?
– Solar: around 30 GW in Phase 1 and roughly the same in Phase 2; almost 36 GW not prioritised
– Batteries: 83 GW with Gate 2 status, 33 GW of it in Phase 1; more than 150 GW pushed back or removed
– Onshore wind: around 12 GW in Phase 1 and about 5 GW in Phase 2, with too much in Scotland and too little in England and Wales
– Long-duration storage: full up to 2035, with places allocated largely by application date; 5.6 GW not prioritised
– Offshore wind: largely prioritised, in line with its central role in the Clean Power plan
When do the offers arrive?
Gate 2 status confirms a project’s place in the queue. The offer itself, with the date and cost, comes separately, in batches. NESO originally planned to issue all offers for projects connecting by 2030 by the end of January 2026. The date has since been pushed back, and the timetable has been updated to the following dates:
– Projects connecting in 2026 or 2027: offers issued first, between January and May 2026
– Phase 1, transmission: due by 31 October 2026, after two extensions
– Phase 1, distribution: due by 30 November 2026
– Phase 2, transmission: due by 31 January 2027
– Phase 2, distribution: due by 31 March 2027
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Developers usually have 90 days to accept. Part of the reason the Phase 1 deadline slipped was delays at National Grid Electricity Transmission, which drew criticism from Ofgem, the energy regulator. The regulator has asked NESO to confirm in writing once every Phase 1 offer has gone out.
Distribution network operators are working through their own batches in parallel. National Grid Electricity Distribution, which serves the Midlands, South West England and South Wales, scheduled its Phase 1 offers for July to mid-November 2026, with Phase 2 offers to follow between October 2026 and March 2027.
What does it mean for solar?
Solar has plenty of room to grow. The UK had around 23 GW installed by August, so its solar fleet will need to roughly double to reach the 2030 range. The Phase 1 pipeline is large enough to close that gap, provided the projects actually get built. Getting planning permission looks like less of a hurdle than getting a grid connection, as around 3.8 GW of solar was approved in the six months before the queue was frozen.
The 36 GW left out was a surprise to many developers, given how much space the plan still had for solar. Most of it fell foul of the regional checks or the land-rights test.
What does it mean for storage?
Batteries were hit hardest. Even after the cuts, the 83 GW with Gate 2 status is around 60 GW more than NESO expects the system to need by 2035, and for 2030 alone, the government and Ofgem put the battery pipeline almost 15 GW above the top of the Clean Power range. In the six months before the queue was frozen, around 15.2 GW of batteries had received planning permission – four times as much as solar.
Projects with protected status are moving ahead. Gresham House Energy Storage Fund, for example, has received Gate 2 offers for a 240 MW battery at Cockenzie in Scotland and a 57 MW project due to connect in July 2027. For new battery projects without protection, the wait is likely to be long.
Hybrid projects may find their parts treated separately. At the proposed East Park Energy project in England, the solar farm has Gate 2 status, while its planned 100 MW battery only has a Gate 1 offer. The developer has to decide whether to build the solar on its own or hold out for the battery.
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What does it cost?
– Progression commitment fee: paid by Gate 2 projects, to discourage developers from reserving grid capacity they have no intention of using
– Rejecting an offer: the project drops back to Gate 1, and NESO should issue a new offer within six weeks
– Hybrid projects with mixed results: the Gate 1 part is formally notified as part of the project’s Gate 2 offer
The connection decision also feeds into subsidy policy. In its October budget, the government said it would procure new clean power projects only if they lower bills and can connect to the grid easily, starting with the next Contracts for Difference auction, Allocation Round 8 (AR8).
What happens next?
After two missed deadlines, NESO still has to confirm that every Phase 1 offer has gone out. Once it has, the figures to watch will be how many developers accept their offers after seeing the connection dates and costs, and how many drop out.
Phase 2 offers are due by the end of January, and NESO has yet to set a date for its next application window, originally planned for no earlier than spring 2026. Until that window opens, projects without Gate 2 status have no route into the queue. For solar projects with batteries planned alongside, it also remains to be seen whether the storage can follow the solar. (TF)
