IN Brief:
- NESO has asked Ofgem to move its Gate 2 Phase 1 offer deadline from 30 September to 31 October.
- The request follows additional engineering and network redesign work affecting part of the NGET offer programme.
- NESO says later Gate 1 and Phase 2 milestones are not currently expected to move as a consequence.
National Energy System Operator has asked Ofgem for an additional month to complete part of its Gate 2 Phase 1 connection offer programme, proposing that the relevant regulatory deadline moves from 30 September to 31 October 2026.
The request sits within the Gate 2 to Whole Queue process, through which Britain’s existing electricity connection queue is being rebuilt around project readiness and strategic alignment rather than the previous first-come model. A revised timetable agreed with Ofgem in June already divided connection offers into phases running through 2026 and into March 2027.
The latest request concerns only part of Phase 1. NESO’s primary letter attributes the delay principally to additional engineering work and network redesign by National Grid Electricity Transmission, particularly on more complex transmission connected and embedded projects.
That distinction matters because producing a Gate 2 offer involves more than updating an administrative position in the queue. An offer has to reflect a connection point, date, and network solution that can be supported by the transmission system. Where reinforcement assumptions change, engineers may have to revisit network studies and construction requirements before a credible offer can be issued.
For project developers, the connection offer is a commercial input as well as a technical document. Financing, turbine or battery procurement, land agreements, construction sequencing, and route to market can all depend on the expected date at which the network will be ready to accept power or supply a new load.
A short delay can therefore have different consequences for different projects. Schemes with several years of schedule margin may absorb a later offer without material effect, while projects approaching investment or procurement decisions may need connection certainty before committing capital.
NESO has indicated that affected customers should receive additional information where transmission construction work delays the formal offer. That can include an anticipated connection date before the completed Gate 2 modification is issued, allowing developers to continue some planning while the remaining engineering work is finished.
The delay comes after substantial volumes of the reformed queue have already begun moving into firm offers. Earlier Gate 2 releases covered 713 projects representing around 37GW of capacity, including wind, solar, battery storage, gas, and hydro projects.
Those offers marked an important change from queue reform as a methodology exercise to queue reform as a live delivery programme. Projects that meet Gate 2 requirements can receive a confirmed connection point, connection date, and queue position, while projects that do not meet the criteria fall into Gate 1 without the same confirmed connection position.
The physical network remains the harder constraint behind those classifications. Removing speculative projects can produce a more credible queue, but it does not manufacture transformers, build substations, install overhead lines, or complete cable circuits. Where remaining projects still require major reinforcement, offer dates have to reflect works that can actually be engineered and constructed.
Ofgem’s June decision recognised the complexity of that exercise by replacing the standard 7.5-month licence timetable with phased milestones aligned to the re-baselined programme. Current NESO guidance places Gate 2 Phase 1 transmission and large embedded offers in the 2026 programme, followed by later distribution and Phase 2 batches extending into March 2027.
The September extension request does not currently amount to another wholesale re-baselining. NESO has said the later Gate 1 and Phase 2 milestones are not expected to move as a consequence of the additional Phase 1 time, although the wider programme continues to be monitored with transmission and distribution companies and Ofgem.
That makes the next month an important test of whether the programme can absorb engineering slippage locally rather than allowing it to propagate through the remaining batches. Connection reform was intended partly to make project schedules more credible; repeated movement in offer dates would weaken that certainty even where the revised queue itself is more realistic.
Ofgem must decide whether to accept the requested October deadline. The immediate issue is one additional month, but the underlying constraint is more familiar: changes made to a connection queue on paper ultimately have to be converted into transmission designs, construction scopes, equipment orders, and network capacity that can be delivered in the field.
