On this podcast, three of Roadnight Taylor’s elite connections engineers – Connectologists® Catherine Cleary, Pete Aston and Kyle Murchie – explore the history, the mechanism's, strengths, weaknesses and the risks associated with connection offer milestones at transmission - an entirely new thing - which are being impemented following CUSC modification CMP376. There are also links in the description to National Grid ESO's invaluable resources and webinars on this complex and important topic.

The ESO's guidance document can be found here: https://www.nationalgrideso.com/document/294211/download and it has upcoming webinars on the milestones  on 19 December and 10 January.

Details of these and the materials from the previous ESO webinars on the topic can be found here: https://www.nationalgrideso.com/industry-information/connections/queue-management.

National Grid's milestone calculator is no longer available - but Raodnight Taylor's own version will be available shortly.

Recorded 14 December 2023

In this Grid news and views’ episode, Pete Aston hosts colleagues Catherine Cleary and Philip Bale - as well as the freshly-minted fifth Connectologist®, Kyle Murchie - as they discuss National Grid ESO's progress with two-step offers, when this will come to an end, and:

1. The proposed/impending introduction of LOAs (letters of authority) at transmission

Recorded 13 December 2023

Links: 

Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/

Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/

Talk to us at [email protected]

With increasing levels of risk and complexity associated with investments in large-scale energy projects – not least with regards their grid connections – it is no surprise that investors are increasingly seeking the highest levels of specialised grid expertise for their connection due diligence.

In this podcast, two of Roadnight Taylor’s elite connection specialists – Connectologists® Catherine Cleary and Pete Aston – discuss the key themes that they see determining the success of a connection and of a grid due diligence exercise, and some of the areas of risk that they see having been missed by third parties when a post-acquisition project arrives in their emergency room.  

Recorded August 2023

Links: 

Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/

Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/

Talk to us at [email protected]

Changes both to Distribution Network Operators' modelling of curtailment and to their real-time operation of ANM schemes are impacting on developers' and investors' abilities to make informed investment decisions - and may lead to significant lost yield over and above what would have been anticipated on any given project. In this shifting landscape it pays to be informed in order to identify those projects with the greatest risks, and to engage positively with system planning teams to seek to address those risks early.  

On this podcast, three of Roadnight Taylor’s elite connections engineers – Connectologists® Catherine Cleary, Pete Aston and Philip Bale – explore the issues, help identify higher risk projects, suggest mitigations and point to industry initiatives that may bring about positive change in this important area.

Recorded on 09 November 2023

Links: 

Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/

Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/

Talk to us at [email protected]

Two of our Connectologists®, specialist connections engineers Pete Aston and Philip Bale, discuss the new rules regarding the treatment of Battery Energy Storage Schemes (BESS) by Distribution Network Operator (DNOs) with regards to network connections. The change is as a result of the ENA's three-point plan to accelerate connections and came into force on 30 September 2023.

This is an important, time-sensitive topic that will be of interest to battery storage developers, and developers and investors of large-scale commercial, industrial, real estate and housing with large demand or decarbonisation requirements.

The three tactical solutions and how they might impact schemes and developments are discussed.

Recorded on 26 October 2023

Links: 

ENA's Battery Storage Connections - Tactical Solutions Guidance Notes

What are firm and non-firm connections?

Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/

Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/

Talk to us at [email protected]

In this Grid news and views’ episode, Connectologist® Nikki Pillinger hosts colleagues Catherine Cleary and Philip Bale as they report back from National Grid ESO's customer connections seminar on 16 October, and in addition:

Recorded 18 October 2023

Links: 

Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/

Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/

Talk to us at [email protected]

With connection timescales in the late 2030s becoming the new normal for distribution connections, the ENA's Technical Limits initiative seeks to better utilise transmission headroom at each GSP in order to accelerate connections of smaller, more agile projects that are ready to connect.

In this episode Roadnight Taylor's four Connectologists® help developers and investors to understand the implications for the portfolios of large-scale projects they are building or acquiring.

Recorded 6 September 2023

Links: 

Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/

Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/

Talk to us at [email protected]

Our team of Connectologists® return for a third podcast in their ‘Grid news and views’ series to discuss some of the most important updates in their field. In this episode our influential connection specialists, among other news, discuss the latest intervention from the ENA and Ofgem regarding the treatment of storage.

1. Changes to the planning regime for onshore wind, and whether they are significant enough to cause a rush of connection applications in England - or even cancellations

Recorded 6 September 2023

Links: 

Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/

Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/

Talk to us at [email protected]

With the choice of applying for a Bilateral Embedded Generator Agreement (BEGA) or a Bilateral Embedded Licence Exemptible Large Generator Agreement (BELLA) having such high potential impacts on the viability, cost or timing of a connection - and therefore on a project - it pays to understand the implications as well as the high-level choices you will have to make.

Diligent development Directors and Investment Directors will be better placed to make the right calls after listening to this episode, in which two of Roadnight Taylor’s elite connection specialists – Connectologists® Catherine Cleary and Pete Aston – discuss the fundamentals, and where they have seen others go wrong.

Recorded 6 September 2023

Links: 

Changing from a BEGA to a BELLA 

Notification of Insufficient System Margin (NISM) Overview

Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/

Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/

Talk to us at [email protected]

Insights to help you understand projects’ abnormal running risks, and how to mitigate them.

With the levels of risk involved in consenting or acquiring transmission-connected projects, understanding outage risk should be near the top of any good Development or Investment Director's list.

In this podcast hosted by Pete Aston, two other Roadnight Taylor elite connection specialists (Connectologists®) Catherine Cleary and Philip Bale, discuss the key themes that they will cover in an upcoming webinar on this increasingly popular subject. 

The webinar is on Wednesday 8 November. More details will follow on our website later, but you can register on Zoom here.

Links: 

You can request a recording of the outage risk at distribution webinar here.

Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/

Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/

Talk to us at [email protected]