UK government launches Great British Grid public body

The UK government has announced Great British Grid (GBG), a new publicly owned body within Great British Energy, to accelerate electricity network infrastructure delivery.

• GBG will bring together public and private investment to support critical network infrastructure and help accelerate grid upgrades across Britain.
• The government also plans to reform grid connections, including overhauling the connections queue, expanding self-build connections, and accelerating competitive tendering; it says more than 300 GW of speculative capacity is being removed and that Ireland’s similar reforms cut connection times by up to 11 months.
• Start-up costs for GBG will come from GBE’s existing budgets, while long-term funding will be considered in a future spending review.