The Couture wind farm in Poitou-Charentes, located in south-west France, has hit a roadblock. Despite receiving planning permission, construction of this 33.3 megawatt wind farm, capable of powering 30,000 homes, is at an impasse. Gridlock on the grid is the root of the problem. BayWa RE, the project’s developer, says the wind farm faces an eight-year wait before it can obtain a connection to the grid. This network of cables, substations, and transformers takes electricity across regions, countries, and borders to power our daily lives.
Renewable energy infrastructure developers worldwide are encountering similar grid connection delays that could have catastrophic consequences for greenhouse gas emissions reduction. The urgency has increased with the need for a rapid transformation of the global energy system by replacing fossil fuels with cleaner power sources like wind and solar to limit global warming and avert the disastrous effects of a climate catastrophe. However, grid connection delays impede progress.
Schneider Electric’s Frédéric Godemel notes that two decades ago, the grid was just one way to get energy, with petrol and gas as options. But now, it’s the mainstay. The grid is in need of modernization and an upgrade, a significant step forward. BayWa RE’s CEO, Matthias Taft, argues that grid connection delays are the biggest obstacle in rolling out renewable projects globally, not just in Europe but also in the US and Australia.
Politicians worldwide are clamouring to support renewable energy schemes hopeful of improving energy security by reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels and fostering efforts to lower emissions in line with the Paris agreement. The parties agreed on limiting the rise in global temperatures below two degrees above pre-industrial levels and emphasising the need for renewable energy, with firm targets in place. Institutes like the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) estimate that to keep the 1.5-degree target alive, there must be a tripling of renewable power generated from today’s 3,000GW to 10,000GW by 2030.
The western world’s grid infrastructure struggles to deliver renewable energy as wind and solar farms must often replace large power plants. They’re needed in remote areas or off coasts with intermittent supplies, causing bottlenecks for grid operators. Managing electricity networks has grown increasingly complex with the rise of solar energy panels feeding into the grid, shifts to electric vehicles and heat pumps. Grid operators face a balancing act of expanding the network in line with consumer expectations without raising their cost.
Grid operators worldwide are overwhelmed with project requests that can lead to bottlenecks. In countries like the UK, Spain, and Italy, over 150GW of stalled wind and solar projects are in connection queues. US grid connection requests grew by 40% in 2022, with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovering that there were nearly 2,000GW of solar, wind, and storage projects waiting to connect to transmission grids, far more than the installed capacity of the entire US power plant fleet. Speculative applications from developers cause many of these projects never to materialize.
Developers often lack prior information about grid capacity or the ability to accept a new project, which leads to significant additional costs when plans start to move forward. When developers realize the high cost of grid reinforcement, many back away from the project. These grid connection delays can slow down or halt progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, putting the planet’s future at risk.
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