Electric ‘superhighway’ faces delays, impacting clean power targets

Designed to transmit enough electricity to power two million homes, EGL1 is a critical infrastructure upgrade intended to ease grid congestion and support the UK’s transition to net zero. However, the project developers, SP Energy Networks and National Grid Electricity Transmission, have warned of significant delays due to global shortages of key equipment, including high-voltage cables and converters.

The project had been fast-tracked by Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, with a target completion date of 31 December 2028. Developers now seek relief from potential penalties until at least April 2030, citing supply chain challenges that have resulted in multi-year wait times for crucial components.

Ofgem, however, is “minded” to reject the request, maintaining that project developers were aware of global supply chain risks and are responsible for managing those challenges.

Independent energy analyst Kathryn Porter commented: “To achieve the Clean Power 2030 target, we must build twice as much grid infrastructure in the next five years as we did over the past decade. Supply chain constraints, such as four-year lead times for transformers, make this an extremely difficult goal.”

The National Energy System Operator (NES) recently identified EGL1 as one of four priority projects with the greatest impact on achieving a clean power system. Failure to deliver EGL1 and other major upgrades on time could significantly increase constraint payments—costs paid to wind farms to shut down due to grid bottlenecks—by up to £900 million annually.

Without EGL1 in place, surplus renewable energy generated in the area cannot be efficiently transported south to areas of higher demand, leading to increasing constraint payments and frustration among local communities, such as many in the Scottish Borders, already bearing the brunt of intense infrastructure expansion without seeing direct benefits.