On Friday 4 August, DESNZ published the independent recommendations from the UK’s Electricity Networks Commissioner, Nick Winser, which outline how to accelerate the deployment of electricity transmission infrastructure. This follows his appointment by the government to investigate and report on how to reduce the timescale for building strategic transmission from the current 12-14 years by three years and ultimately by a half. Within his report, supported by Energy Systems Catapult, Winser says he believes that we must hit the more ambitious end of this and reduce the overall timescale to seven years and sets out several findings and 18 recommendations. This includes that the Future System Operator (FSO) should be established quickly and be responsible for producing a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP); that the National Policy Statements (NPS) should be urgently updated and regularly thereafter; and that a major review of engineering and technician skills in the UK needs to be undertaken. The report concludes that the required changes to improve delivery of GB infrastructure are profound and urgent but are both possible and achievable if there is sufficient commitment and a sense of urgency.
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