Clean Power 2030 Action Plan: solar capacity update - letter to NESO, 7 April 2025
Published 7 April 2025
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Fintan Slye, NESO
CC: Jonathan Brearley, Ofgem
7 April 2025
Dear Fintan,
I am writing to advise that government is today republishing the Connections Reform Annex of the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan (CPAP) to address a misalignment between solar capacity allocations and the solar pipeline for 2031 to 2035[footnote 1].
The misalignment has come about because the recent trend of increased solar project pipeline at transmission was not fully reflected in National Energy System Operator鈥檚 (NESO鈥檚) 2024 Future Energy Scenarios, on which NESO鈥檚 Clean Power 2030 advice to us was based.
My department has engaged extensively with Ofgem, NESO, and stakeholders on this issue and it has become clear that the flexibilities included within NESO鈥檚 connection reform proposals, currently being considered by Ofgem, are not the most appropriate way to correct the misalignment. We have therefore decided to address it by amalgamating the CPAP solar distribution and transmission allocations for 2031 to 2035 (see tables 2 and 4 in the republished Connections Reform Annex). This will ensure that the most well-developed solar projects across both Transmission and Distribution are allocated the capacity available in their region.
This is a one-off technical update to the CPAP in response to a particular development in the underpinning evidence, with the overall solar capacity allocation remaining the same as on initial publication. I should note that we have fully considered other stakeholder concerns with CPAP allocations and are satisfied that the solar allocation for the 2031-35 period is the only area where the evidence underpinning the CPAP has changed significantly.
As such, we have made no other changes to the CPAP and we do not expect to revisit allocations again until the publication of the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) in late 2026. As set out previously, the 2031 to 2035 figures in the Annex are interim and are subject to updates through the SSEP, noting that the SSEP will not change any connection agreements issued prior to its publication.
Increasing the overall capacity allocations for 2031 to 2035 for any technology would reduce the scope for the SSEP to optimise the future network, by considering the most cost-effective spatial optimisation of different technologies in a holistic way.
As ever, I am extremely grateful for your close collaboration on this critical endeavour. I am copying this letter to Jonathan Brearley.
Yours ever,
Michael Shanks MP
Minister for Energy