Grid Connection Feasibility Study
for Developers and Investors

Pursuing an unviable site may only cost £thousands in wasted site acquisition resource, but the opportunity cost – backing a winner elsewhere – will be £millions

ENERGY STORAGE

Where Roadnight Taylor can help

By avoiding unviable sites you’ll:

  • Save on in-house and external site finder costs

  • Save on failed connection application fees

  • Save on legal and professional fees

  • Free up cash and resource to focus on viable sites

By focusing on viable sites you’ll:

  • Accept more connection offers

  • Enter into more option agreements

  • Achieve planning consent on more sites

  • Reach financial close on more schemes

The difference in numbers:

  • More than 2.5GW of viable connection offers per annum

  • >80% of connection offers accepted

  • Hundreds of wasted applications avoided

  • Five times the application success rate of the market

The technical, commercial or regulatory key that will unlock the grid at transmission or distribution level – and so the potential in a site – is often obscured from all but those with the very deepest of expertise.  Finding it can be worth £millions.

The technical, commercial or regulatory key that will unlock  the grid – and so the potential in a site – is often obscured from all but those with the very deepest of expertise.  Finding it can be worth £millions.

The challenge

  • Nationally, about 15% of HV and EHV generation connection offers are accepted by developers, in part because:

  • Many applications are submitted on the wrong part of the network because:

    • developers rely on network operators’ heat maps; and
    • developers rely on budget estimates; but
    • heat maps and budget estimates give as many false positives as they do false negatives

  • As frequently, the wrong application is submitted on the right part of the network

  • DNO System Planners have neither the time nor the authority to find and advise you of a connection solution – pre application – in spite of most having the inclination

  • It stands to reason that System Planners would not all have the combination of technical, commercial and regulatory expertise and experience – and the tenacity – to consistently identify a technically feasible and cost-viable connection

The solution

What we do

Working at both transmission and distribution levels, we carry out a thorough, skilled, detailed and efficient study of publicly-available network data in order to rapidly deduce whether a technically-feasible and commercially-viable connection can be achieved – and, as appropriate, liaise with the relevant network operator’s System Planner to augment our study and gain additional network intelligence.

Short of carrying out a feasibility study for many £thousands – and in a timeframe that works for few serious developers  – DNO and TO System Planners are unable to do this work.  Few developers, if any, have the necessary in-house capability to deliver the requisite results.

Our feasibility studies are trusted and valued by a rollcall of the UK’s leading energy scheme developers – the smart money. Some leading developers have built substantial pipelines via our feasibility service.

Jake Dunn

“Roadnight Taylor’s specialist engineers have carried out a number of feasibility studies for Vattenfall’s schemes, giving us an incredibly high success-rate.

Significantly, for me, is their ability to take our vision and commercial creativity, and deliver viable, sophisticated connection solutions for complex, multi-technology colocation projects (wind, solar, storage and hydrogen electrolysis). They are extraordinary.”

Jake Dunn, leading UK expert in co-location 
Commercial Development Manager, Vattenfall Wind Power

Who does the work?

Our extraordinary team of Connectologists® have the hands-on technical, commercial and regulatory experience of the highest order – having held responsibility for many thousands of EHV offers and applications.  They are tenacious, diligent, self-assured and professional – and they are on your side.

Pete Aston

Pete Aston
Specialist Connections Engineer

Catherine Cleary

Catherine Cleary
Specialist Connections Engineer

Philip Bale - Roadnight Taylor

Philip Bale
Specialist Connections Engineer

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Some of our current developer feasibility study projects

  • Mikey Clarke, Relode - guest podcast

We sit down with Mikey Clarke, CEO of Relode Energy, to explore how the UK’s energy infrastructure must evolve to meet rising demand. We unpack the idea of power parks and the practical steps needed to electrify hard-to-reach sectors.

  • Guest podcast Ed Birkett , Low Carbon

Ed Birkett, New Projects Director at Low Carbon joins our podcast to explain what’s going wrong with grid connection process and what needs to change. Ed also sounds the alarm on why transparency is essential as we move toward the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.

  • Super Grid Transformer charging - full version

This extended podcast from Roadnight Taylor presents in-depth conversations with energy and development leaders on the challenges of Super Grid Transformer (SGT) charging and potential pathways for reform.

  • super grid transformer charging 1

A highlights podcast exploring the pressing issue of Super Grid Transformer (SGT) charging, bringing together experts from across the energy and development sectors to share experiences, challenges, and ideas for reform.

  • Podcast Grid News and Views 12

In this Grid News and Views episode Pete Aston, Catherine Cleary, and Nikki Pillinger unpack key updates on grid connections, Gate 2 timelines, and industry reforms.

  • Podcast Matt Vickers NESO

Matt Vickers, NESO, shares what it’s like leading one of the biggest overhauls in the UK energy sector—fixing the grid connections system and tackling a huge project queue.