21-07-2025
Neso ‘sorry' after online portal to prioritise grid connections fails
The National Energy System Operator has been forced to apologise after the IT system it set up to handle the crucial process of prioritising grid connections failed to work for hundreds of companies.
The government-owned body responsible for keeping Britain's lights on said it was 'truly sorry' over the failings with its IT portal, which one expert warned could raise the risk of legal challenges against the organisation.
Accelerating connections to the electricity network has been a key priority for the government as it seeks to get new solar, wind and battery projects built to hit its 2030 clean power goals.
There is a huge 'queue' of more than 5,000 projects with a total capacity of 738 gigawatts waiting to secure grid connections — more than four times the clean generation capacity required by 2030. However many of these are 'zombie' projects that will never be built but are effectively bedblocking, preventing shovel-ready projects getting the go-ahead.
To tackle this problem, Neso opened a three-week application window this month for companies in the queue to submit evidence as to how soon their projects could be built, enabling it to prioritise those that are ready to connect and are required to meet the 2030 goals.
It has since been inundated with more than 2,000 'queries' from companies struggling to use the system. Some were unable to access the IT portal at all, while those who could log on encountered basic issues such as finding the upload facility for legally required documents did not work, or that text could not be entered into forms that had to be completed. 'Nothing about this portal works,' one industry source said.
The setback is embarrassing for Neso, which had described the opening of the application window as 'a key moment in the once-in-a-lifetime transformation of our electricity network, and a vital step for delivering clean power by 2030', pledging it was a 'simpler, more transparent, and faster way' for required projects to secure updated contracts.
Last week Kayte O'Neill, chief operating officer, wrote an open letter to the industry in which she said Neso was 'truly sorry for the concern and disruption this is causing' and said it would extend the application deadline by at least five working days 'in direct response to the challenges you have faced with our Connections Portal'.
Lisa Waters, founder of the energy consultancy Waters Wye Associates, said: 'The fiasco will simply end with parties who lose their connections considering legal action. We need to pause, fix the portal, test it and restart. Daily IT patches and unresolved queries are not acceptable when projects are worth millions of pounds.'
Barnaby Wharton, director of future electricity systems at RenewableUK, the trade body representing many wind farm developers, said: 'Major issues remain which are preventing our members from submitting applications for grid connections for their projects. It's critical that Neso does everything in its power to address these issues as efficiently as possible.'
He suggested that the deadline may need to be further extended as 'Neso will not have fulfilled its statutory duty until all projects have had a full two-week period to submit their applications without issues preventing them from doing so' and it was 'highly unlikely that this will be possible within the five-day extension which Neso has provided so far'.
A spokesman for Neso said it was 'working hard to resolve the technical issues impacting the ability of some customers to submit evidence to Neso of their project's deliverability'.
'We apologise to our customers and understand the concern and disruption this is causing them,' he said. 'We are committed to addressing the challenges being faced with the utmost urgency so that all customers are able to submit evidence as soon as possible.'
