Reading Council has raised concerns that local electricity capacity constraints will block the development of new housing and green energy projects.
The council said an “increasing number” of new connections in the borough had been restricted by Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN).
This means that larger developments may not be able to secure sufficient capacity to meet council requirements if they have heat pumps or electric vehicle (EV) charging points.
The restrictions could also affect other developments such as solar farms and new electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
The council said Reading’s ambitions to reach net zero by 2030 will be affected without “significant investment in network capacity and changes to its distribution”.
The concerns were addressed at a council meeting this week. A report at the meeting said there had been “initial discussions” about the challenges with the Department for Housing, Homes and Communities and energy regulator Ofgem.
Reading proposes to work with SSEN, partners and neighboring local authorities and bodies to try to find a solution.
But the report says one challenge facing these discussions is the council’s “very limited capacity and expertise to fully engage with this complex policy area”, adding that “there may be a case for press SSEN to fund work in this area.”
Micky Leng, Reading’s chief planning councillor, said: “The impact of the SSEN cap on electricity grid connections puts a number of development projects in our town at risk and could derail localized progress to help deal with the climate crisis.
“With new sustainable homes as part of the local plan, alongside the council’s plans for more solar installations and investment in electric vehicle infrastructure, Reading is well placed to take advantage of this progress. Without serious investment in the grid location and changes in its distribution, however, we have to question how much will be achievable.”
A spokesperson for SSEN said: “We are committed to delivering an electricity network to accelerate local ambitions and are working with all local authorities, including Reading Borough Council, to understand and respond to their net zero priorities and wider development plans .
“Given the recent well-documented increase in network connection requests, there are some areas, including parts of Reading, where larger connections are subject to capacity restrictions until major planned network upgrades are completed .
“We would like to reassure communities and developers that more than 95% of requests to connect to our network can continue without restrictions and that every effort is being made to remove or mitigate restrictions where they exist” .
Last year, the Greater London Authority told developers it could take until 2035 for enough electricity connections to allow new homes to be built in the west London boroughs of Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow .
And in April, a report by the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said: “Constraints on the electricity grid and delays in securing a grid connection are affecting the ability to deploy low-carbon technologies “.
He added that the lack of investment “makes the electricity networks no longer keep pace with the construction of renewables”.
