The Grid - The Bottleneck Under Everything

Solar, storage and clean heat all run into the same wall: getting connected. The grid is no longer a technical footnote. It is the gating factor under the transition.

Every clean energy project I am seeing right now is waiting on the same thing. Not money. Not planning. The grid connection.

It remains a constraint which solar, storage and clean heat all share. You can win the site, raise the capital and line up the build and still sit in a connection queue measured in years.

This edition of Hummingbird Insights looks at the continuing grid connection challenge facing the clean energy sector and how connections experts are now in high-demand.

Where the queue stands

Great Britain's connection queue for generation and battery storage capacity now sits at approximately 283 gigawatts, with the wait times for many measured in years. About 132 GW has been offered connections by 2030, with another offered connections between 2031 and 2035.

The length of the queue does not only create a technical problem. It changes project timing, commercial decisions, investment priorities and the value of specialist expertise.

An example of how grid connection delays impact is Stellantis’s electric-vehicle factory on site solar array in Ellesmere Port. The project, which was well advanced by the end of 2024, but it  faces a wait until 2035 for an export connection. Although the solar panels can supply the factory directly, the connection delay had prevented surplus electricity from being sold to the grid and forced Stellantis to consider costly battery storage and other mitigation measures.

Reform changes which projects move

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for planning and operating Great Britain's electricity system, its connections reform is reordering the queue around projects that are ready to proceed, rather than relying only on a first-come, first-served approach.

These change which projects move and when. It also makes the people who understand the queue, the reform timetable, network charging and project readiness far more important.

The scarce skill has changed

For a long time, the prize was originating projects. Now it is getting them connected.

Connections expertise has moved from useful to decisive. The teams that progress are the ones with someone who understands how to keep a project moving through the machinery.

The people in genuine demand

·  Connections and grid specialists who can steer a project through the queue and the reform timetable.

·  Regulatory and market experts who understand charging, capacity and how the rules are changing.

·  Commercial leaders who can turn a connection position into a financeable project.

A skill set that travels

Grid and connections specialists are now among the hardest hires in the energy market. Developers, investors and operators are competing for the same narrow pool.

For candidates, this expertise travels. It is wanted in solar, storage, wind and heat, which means it is not tied to one sub-sector cycle. That creates an unusually strong position from which to move.

Investment alone will not remove the bottleneck

Network investment is rising to expand capacity, but the build-out depends on engineering and commercial talent that is already in short supply.

The grid is no longer a technical footnote to the energy transition. It is the gating factor, and the people who can navigate it are among the most contested talent in the market.

Key points

·  The connection queue is a significant barrier to the timely roll out of significant clean energy technologies across Great Britain.

·  Connections reform is prioritising projects that are genuinely ready to proceed.

·  Grid, regulatory and commercial expertise now shapes project value and delivery timing.

The organisations that hire this capability early will be better placed to move.

If you are building anything that needs to connect to the grid this decade, who on your team owns the connection, and did you hire them early enough?

Thanks for stopping by.

Take care, stay safe, and be well.

Warm regards,

Mariken O'Donnell

Founder, Hummingbird Recruitment & Consulting

August 31, 2026