Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has taken recent steps to (a) increase the capacity of the electricity network and (b) speed up the connection of renewable energy projects to the national grid.

The Government is committed to accelerating the delivery of electricity network infrastructure to accommodate new sources of clean electricity generation and demand, as set out, jointly with Ofgem, in the Electricity Networks Strategic Framework. The British Energy Security Strategy also sets out the Government's ambition to accelerate transmission network infrastructure, including speeding up the planning consents process.

The Government is working with Ofgem and network companies to release network capacity and improve the connection process to accelerate connection timescales. Actions include better connection queue management, revised modelling of the network impacts of new connections, and considering longer-term connections reform.