UK energy regulator Ofgem’s new accelerated strategic transmission investment (ASTI) framework represents a huge opportunity to update the country’s grid to make it capable of connecting increasing numbers of renewable assets. If the UK, and by inference the transmission network operators (TNOs), are going to hit the government’s ambitious target of fully decarbonising the power system by 2035, then significant upgrades need to take place, at pace.
The existing process - the large onshore transmission investment (LOTI) framework - simply wasn’t going to allow the sector to evolve at the necessary speed. Rather than a project-by-project approval process, ASTI’s programmatic and proactive approach will mean that TNOs can accelerate the pace of investment into the grid at a time when it is desperately needed.
Ofgem has identified 26 projects to be taken on under the streamlined framework. The projects will be eligible for pre-construction funding, which...