Any Spare Electric?
Posted on 6th December 2022 at 09:04
By Robin Norton (Director of Business Development)
Energy requirements in the new build sector are going through a huge change.
Government mandates for more efficient heating such as heat pumps and the addition of Electric Vehicle Charging (EVC) is proving a real challenge, due to available capacity on the existing electricity networks decreasing.
No longer heating new homes via gas means that the electricity load requirement for an individual house will increase by around 150% compared with gas heating.
In October 2021 the UK government pledged to decarbonise electricity generation by 2051, subject to security of supply, and following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine set even more ambitious targets to reduce reliance on expensive gas imports within the British energy security strategy published in April 2022.
Ofgem last week confirmed a five-year investment package for the electricity distribution network companies to help deliver cheaper, cleaner, more reliable local grids at no extra cost to consumers.
Whilst there is a long-term plan, and investment has been pledged, in the short term it’s expected that developers could feel the pinch of reinforcement to the local distribution network to get the required power to their developments.
The available capacity of the local network is variable from location to location; some locations might need substantial upgrades to connect even a small development, while the existing network in another location may be able to support a significant development without the need for upgrade.
At Pivotal we encourage our customers to engage with us as early as possible to allow us to assess their requirements and available capacity. We offer free feasibly reports that include firm points of connection, which gives our customers the true picture prior to committing to a land purchase.
We are already experiencing the need for reinforcement more often, and we can’t stress highly enough that capacity issues are real and can cause huge impacts on timescales and cost.
Should you require our support on one of your new projects, please contact our friendly and helpful team today.
Share this post: