https://markdmoore.co.uk/ Independent research on the structure of the GB grid connection market: register trackers, posts and articles. en-gb Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-5 https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-5 Tracker Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Seven days between files, and the TEC Register barely moved. Two projects joined, one left, net minus 10 MW. https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#cmp470-fee https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#cmp470-fee Article Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Ofgem’s minded-to consultation on CMP470 closes on Thursday 1 October. It proposes an Oversubscribed Technologies Commitment Fee, a charge on battery storage projects for holding a queue position in a technology the system already has too much of. I’ve submitted a response supporting it. This piece sets out why, and what I’ve suggested alongside it. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#cmp470-fee-post https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#cmp470-fee-post Post Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 About 90 GW of battery storage is operating or holds Gate 2 status, against roughly 29 GW needed by 2035. According to Ofgem’s own impact assessment, about a quarter of it has posted no securities or liabilities at all. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#network-carrier-post https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#network-carrier-post Post Fri, 25 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 I’ve worked in three industries over my career: engineering, logistics and now energy. Their business models couldn’t be more different, and when I started putting them side by side, some of the terms energy customers accept every day looked very odd next to how a haulage contract works. https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#network-carrier https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#network-carrier Article Fri, 25 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Britain’s network companies aren’t paid the way most businesses are. They’re regional franchise carriers. Their revenue is set in advance by a five-year regulatory settlement, and any gap between what they’re allowed and what they actually collect is corrected in later years. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#queue-controls https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#queue-controls Post Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 The GB transmission queue now has five separate controls on it. Put side by side, they bite at different points in a project’s life and they measure different things. https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-4 https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-4 Tracker Wed, 23 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 NESO published this week’s register on Monday, so this edition compares the 15 and 21 September files, six days rather than seven. https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#ecr-edition-1 https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#ecr-edition-1 Tracker Tue, 22 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Around 114.5 GW is accepted to connect to Britain’s distribution networks and not yet energised. That’s roughly 2,800 schemes at 1 MW and above, across all six distribution network operators. For scale, the transmission queue on the TEC Register stood at 688.5 GW on the 14 August file. Distribution is running at about a sixth of it. https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#register-method https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#register-method Article Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Between January and August 2026, accepted-to-connect capacity on SSEN’s Embedded Capacity Register fell by 4,054.8 MW. Connected capacity over the same period rose by 197.6 MW. Those are two columns in the same file, and nothing in the register links them. You cannot say the second came out of the first. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#gb-data-centre-queue https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#gb-data-centre-queue Post Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 My Scotland post on Tuesday asked which filter is binding on the data centre pipeline. NESO’s new Ten Year Outlook puts figures on three of them for Great Britain as a whole. https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#queue-to-load https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#queue-to-load Article Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 The appendix to Friday’s post on the data centre pipeline. Three headline numbers, 72.8 GW requested, 4 GW connecting by 2030 and 1.4 GW of average draw, traced back to NESO’s own workbooks, with the arithmetic shown in full, plus the connection-terms clause that already lets network operators claw back unused capacity. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#data-centre-price-gap https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#data-centre-price-gap Post Thu, 17 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 In my post on Scotland’s data centre pipeline I said the published data couldn’t show which filter is binding. William Andrews answered in the comments: power at roughly £40-50/MWh elsewhere, against £70-90/MWh delivered in the UK once network charges land. Both figures can be checked against published 2026/27 tariffs, so I checked them. https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-3 https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-3 Tracker Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Two connection agreements at Alverdiscott in North Devon came off the TEC Register between the 8 September and 15 September files. Both were held by Xlinks 1 Ltd, both were 1,800 MW interconnectors, and together they were 3.6 GW. Capacity on the register fell from 679.5 GW to 676.0 GW. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#scotland-data-centres https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#scotland-data-centres Post Tue, 15 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Operating capacity today is 30MW. That is DSIT’s own estimate, given to Parliament in answer to PQ HL5239, covering colocation load as at autumn 2024. Against a Great Britain total of 1.6GW, Scotland holds under two per cent. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#nao-seven-projects https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#nao-seven-projects Post Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 The National Audit Office published its value for money report on the transmission upgrade on 11 September (HC 589). One figure in Part Two did not make the coverage. NESO has assessed the constraint cost impact of seven projects out of eighty-eight, and puts it at up to £6.7 billion a year if they are not delivered when needed. For the other eighty-one, it has not run the calculation. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#data-centre-size-lines https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#data-centre-size-lines Post Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Several land at or near 1 MW. Here’s what each one is measured against. https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-2 https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-2 Tracker Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Quiet week on the register itself. One project left, nothing joined, contracted capacity down 0.4 GW to 679.5 GW across 2,056 projects. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#ofgem-milestones-1mw https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#ofgem-milestones-1mw Post Tue, 08 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Curate closes on the 17th. Most of the commentary is working from the consultation document, which is fair enough, it runs to 86 pages. The four ancillary documents carry the actual drafted law, and, if I’m interpreting it correctly, I think there’s a gap between the two. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#asti-dates https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#asti-dates Post Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Most people I speak to take it as read that a connection date is set by when the local reinforcement finishes. It’s sort of a cross between industry folklore and an assumption. https://markdmoore.co.uk/white-papers/#curate-response https://markdmoore.co.uk/white-papers/#curate-response White paper Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Curate proposes a commitment fee for data centre projects of 40 MW and above, together with queue management milestones and evidence of financial capability. https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-1 https://markdmoore.co.uk/trackers/#tec-edition-1 Tracker Wed, 02 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 The connection registers move every week and almost nobody watches them. I'm going to publish what they do, whatever they show. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#elmya https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#elmya Post Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Between 14 and 25 August, seven projects left the TEC Register. All seven belonged to the Elmya RPC joint venture. Nothing else was withdrawn from the other 2,057 projects on it. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#tec-no-show https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#tec-no-show Post Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Last December NESO confirmed a reformed pipeline of 283 GW of generation and storage, and its results page describes clearing a queue that had grown past 700 GW. That same page tells readers to go to the TEC Register for the latest position on connections. So I went and looked, across four dated snapshots. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#sliding-dates https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#sliding-dates Post Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:30:00 +0100 I've been comparing four dated snapshots of the TEC Register: 2 February 2024, 2 July 2024, 28 January 2025 and 14 August 2026. The three older files came from NESO under an environmental information request (ref FOI/26/174), so the publication dates are confirmed rather than inferred from a filename. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#five-names https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#five-names Post Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:30:00 +0100 The bramble thesis argues ownership in UK solar and battery storage keeps concentrating while the developer brand on the sign stays the same. I wanted to write the counter case this week, still-independent developers, proof that new capital keeps entering the market rather than just consolidating what's already there. Five names went on the list: Aura Power, Fidra Energy, Cero Generation, TBC Partners, Starlight. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#flexible-hybrid https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#flexible-hybrid Post Fri, 21 Aug 2026 07:30:00 +0100 Finland's grid operator has made mandatory what Britain is still consulting on. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#harmony-energy https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#harmony-energy Post Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Two weeks ago you could work out who controlled Harmony Energy Limited in about ninety seconds. Companies House listed Kipp K Ltd, registered in Knaresborough. Kipp K's own entry listed Peter Kavanagh at more than 75%. Two clicks, one name. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#social-licence https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#social-licence Post Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:15:00 +0100 Social licence is whether a community accepts what you're building, as distinct from whether you have planning permission. The term came out of mining in the late nineties and it's been studied properly ever since. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#eight-days https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#eight-days Post Mon, 17 Aug 2026 09:30:00 +0100 NextEnergy UK announced on 13 August that it had acquired a 107MW/151MWh battery portfolio, three sites in southeast England. Maldon, 40MW/40MWh, already operational. Loudwater at 39MW/55MWh and Basildon at 28MW/56MWh had both just completed commissioning, eight days before the deal was reported. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#customer-changed-post https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#customer-changed-post Post Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:51:00 +0100 Three things change when your biggest customer gets sold. None of them send you an email. https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#customer-changed https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#customer-changed Article Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:51:00 +0100 Almost certainly not, and there's no particular reason anyone would have. Nothing you can see changes when it happens. Your contact is the same person, the letterhead is the same, the pipeline you're quoting against is the same pipeline, and the name in your CRM hasn't moved. Underneath all of that, the company you're actually contracting with can have been sold twice in eighteen months. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#founding-cohort-post https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#founding-cohort-post Post Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:52:00 +0100 I have read a lot of BESS and data centre job descriptions this year. The experience requirements stopped making sense, so I went and looked into why. https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#founding-cohort https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#founding-cohort Article Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:52:00 +0100 I have read a lot of BESS and data centre job descriptions this year. The experience requirements stopped making sense, so I looked into why. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#how-many-customers-post https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#how-many-customers-post Post Mon, 03 Aug 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Up until the weekend before last, I thought the eventual result, for vendors to this industry, would be a market that defined itself in plain sight, consolidation arriving through deals you could read about, leaving a customer list you could still count. Then I spent a weekend in Companies House, and what I found became the piece I published last Monday, fifteen of Britain's biggest consented solar and battery projects traced to whoever ultimately controls them. https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#how-many-customers https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#how-many-customers Article Mon, 03 Aug 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Last week I published a piece tracing the real ownership of fifteen of Britain's biggest consented solar and battery projects. The finding that traveled was the map, at least ten of the fifteen are not economically what their database entry says. This week I want to pull on the thread that matters most to anyone who sells into this industry, because the map has a commercial consequence folded inside it. If the projects have fewer ultimate owners than names, then suppliers have fewer customers than prospects. And almost nobody's sales plan reflects that. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#dc-owners https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#dc-owners Post Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0100 I went looking for the same handful of international infrastructure managers behind this week's piece on renewables, assuming they'd turn up behind the AI data centre boom too. Four of the top six schemes by capacity say otherwise. Two of the largest, Elsham (close to a gigawatt) and Humber Tech Park (384MW), look unrelated in every public document, different names, different websites, nothing linking them. Trace the ownership register and both come from the same promoter, Greystoke, and both end at the same holding company, a trust incorporated in 1947. A third scheme, 600MW in east London, traces to a completely different private platform. Together that's nearly 2,000MW of Britain's largest proposed data centre capacity, and none of it belongs to the names you'd guess. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#who-owns-post https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#who-owns-post Post Mon, 27 Jul 2026 09:56:00 +0100 Over the weekend I continued the long process of clearing my late father's garden. Due to the intense boredom of cutting up brambles, my thoughts wandered to the state of the renewables market and the vaguely economic subject of developer concentration. https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#who-owns https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#who-owns Article Mon, 27 Jul 2026 09:56:00 +0100 A few weeks ago I wrote that a grid connection is no longer a waiting list, it is a market structure. The post did well, and one question kept nagging at me afterwards. If grid positions and planning consents are now scarce, valuable assets, someone should be accumulating them. So why does every industry database still show a fragmented market of dozens of independent developers? https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#same-post https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#same-post Post Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0100 Grid connections. Constraint payments. The LDES cap and floor. Transmission residual charges. On the surface, four different stories. Underneath, one story told four ways. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#network-charge https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#network-charge Post Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:30:00 +0100 From 1 April the transmission residual rose by around 60 percent, and most of it landed in fixed standing charges rather than unit rates. The whole point was that you could not dodge it by trimming consumption, since it follows your agreed capacity, not your meter. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#market-structure https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#market-structure Post Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Burges Salmon published a piece this week on how Gate 2 uncertainty is reshaping energy M&A. The transaction mechanics they describe (split exchange and completion conditional on the Gate 2 offer, deferred consideration tied to grid milestones) will be familiar to anyone who has worked development-stage deals. Markets always structure around uncertainty, that part is textbook. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#storage-economics https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#storage-economics Post Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:15:00 +0100 While Scottish constraints persist, the scheme works as designed. Batteries earn constraint-driven spreads, floors stay dormant, and consumers save on constraint payments they'd otherwise be funding. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#storage-floor https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#storage-floor Post Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:30:00 +0100 The LDES cap and floor scheme is being read as a subsidy. The structure says otherwise. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#connecting-easier https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#connecting-easier Post Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:30:00 +0100 Last Thursday I asked whether undifferentiated BESS buildout in Britain was quietly drawing to a close. The best pushback in the thread argued the opposite, so it is worth testing properly. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#boundary-wind https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#boundary-wind Post Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:30:00 +0100 NESO pays the wind farm to switch off, then pays a generator south of the constraint, usually gas, to produce the energy the wind farm didn't. Consumers fund both payments through their bills, and neither buys a single additional clean unit. https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#bess-queue https://markdmoore.co.uk/posts/#bess-queue Post Thu, 02 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0100 In its own connections-reform commentary, the regulator admits many more battery projects will receive offers than Clean Power 2030 needs, and it is weighing measures to push oversupplied projects out of the queue early. https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#five-predictions https://markdmoore.co.uk/articles/#five-predictions Article Sun, 14 Jun 2026 21:07:00 +0100 Five predictions about UK energy this week, one a day, and I'll mark my own homework on every one in the autumn.