Electricity Networks Commissioner Nick Winser has published a report explaining, through 18 recommendations, how to accelerate the construction of much-needed new network infrastructure that will help the UK make the most of its renewable energy success.

The report suggests that new power lines can be built in half the time and confirms that, while challenging, accelerating the delivery of strategic electricity transmission lines is "vital and achievable". The set of recommendations put forward aim to reduce the current timescales for delivering onshore transmission network infrastructure to 7 years to help deliver energy security and net zero more quickly.

"Currently, the expectation is that strategic transmission may take twelve to fourteen years from identification of the need to commissioning. Very few new transmission circuits have been built in the last 30 years and a dramatic increase will be required through to 2050, so even these long timescales may be challenging to meet if we fail to streamline the process. Substantial wind generation can be built in half this time," Winser says. "So, the challenge to me, set by the Secretary of State at the time, to reduce the timescale for building strategic transmission by three years, and ultimately by a half is the right one. I believe that we must hit the more ambitious end of this and reduce the overall timescale to seven years. I am confident that this is achievable".

The Electricity Networks Commissioner also explains that the UK doesn't have a settled, strategic, efficient and timely process for identifying need for new transmission assets and "still adds uncertainty and significant time to the process – this is time we cannot afford."

"And when developers have negotiated all these challenges, they then need to secure complex, high specification assets from a supply chain that has a vast increase in orders as the rest of the world travels a similar path to Net Zero," he says.

With the above in mind, this report includes a brief discussion of the institutional arrangements for the implementation of the new electricity system. In the paper, the expert seeks to point out that further work is needed to define with crystal clarity the roles and responsibilities of the various parties under the proposals, in particular, the Government, Ofgem, the Future System Operator (FSO) and the Transmission Owners (TO).

Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps welcomed the report and will consider the recommendations before presenting an action plan later this year to strengthen the UK’s energy security, drive down household bills and grow the economy.

Shapps said that "this is another important step as we continue to reform our energy system to drive down bills, grow the economy and ensure tyrants like Putin can never again use energy as a weapon of war."

For his part, Rebecca Barnett, Ofgem’s Director of Networks said that "we need bold reforms to accelerate the delivery of electricity transmission infrastructure needed to end the reliance on fossil fuels for power by 2035. Nick Winser sets out an ambitious, highly detailed programme to remove barriers to planning and delivering transmission network and plugging renewable generation into the grid."

The report comes as the government publishes new proposals to grant Secretary of State for Energy Security powers to direct the Future System Operator (FSO) – the new public body that will be tasked with planning a decarbonised energy system - to take action to address risks to national security.

The government will respond to these proposals later this year.