Britain’s electricity revolution will fail without planning overhaul, warns National Grid boss
Sir Keir Starmer's Government must slash planning approval times for major infrastructure projects if the UK's electricity network is to reach zero emissions by 2030, National Grid's chief executive has suggested.
John Pettigrew warned that hopes for decarbonising the grid over the next decade would quickly fade without an urgent shake-up of Britain's planning processes.
Mr Pettigrew, who is plotting 17 major onshore and offshore transmission projects and many more smaller ones to meet the UK's needs for low carbon electricity, said the UK must at least halve the time taken to approve projects to reach the target.
"In terms of the planning system we're very clear that in order to make progress on building some of the significantly large infrastructure, whether it's offshore wind, onshore wind, distribution or transmission networks, then planning reform is required," he said.
Asked what kind of acceleration was needed, Mr Pettigrew pointed to a 2023 report from Nick Winser, the electricity networks commissioner, which found that major electricity transmission projects were taking "12 to 14 years from identification of the need to commissioning" and suggested at least halving those times.
However, even such a dramatic cut would still put many projects outside the five-year timescale set by Mr Miliband for decarbonising the grid.
The Government has pledged to publish a planning reform bill next spring but the sheer scale of the changes needed was laid bare by the Clean Power 2030 report published this week by the National Energy System Operator (Neso).
It hinted at cutting planning times from years to just months.
"Significant volumes of projects need to pass through the planning system to start construction on rapid timescales, while maintaining community consent which is vital to the mission," said the Neso report.
"Given that construction for many of the required projects needs to begin in the next six to 24 months to be in place by 2030, upcoming planning reforms will need to significantly streamline and speed up processes."
Mr Pettigrew did not put his own figure on the scale of acceleration, warning that it was essential to take the time needed to consult with local communities.
He added: "The simple answer is that we've been advocating for some changes to the planning system...We're very supportive of the [Winser] report that talked about opportunities to streamline that process."
The comments came as National Grid reported a 14pc increase in operating profits over the first half of the year, boosted by extra revenues from its UK transmission and distribution networks.
The company, which runs the high voltage electricity transmission across the southern UK plus an electricity and gas business in New York and Massachusetts, posted an underlying operating profit of £2.05bn for the six months to Sept 30, compared with £1.8bn last year.
The company's most profitable operations were all in the UK and came from owning and running the national grid — charges which are added to customer bills, with the high voltage transmission system making a £724m profit, a 10pc increase.
Its UK electricity distribution network, the lower voltage wires that deliver electricity to customers, also saw profits rise from £563m to £573m.
National Grid's growing profits were criticised by unions and consumer groups, especially because 60pc of the company's shares are now in foreign hands – meaning profits leave the country.
Caroline Simpson, a spokesperson from campaign group Warm This Winter, said: "Everyone is fed up with being ripped off by the energy sector and yet again we see another arm of this profiteering industry reporting massive profits.
"People also want to see greedy companies, which include National Grid, that have made over £450bn in profits since the start of the energy crisis. foot the bill for a social tariff, helping older and disabled people with their energy bills this winter."
