The Connectology® Podcast by Roadnight Taylor
Roadnight Taylor’s influential team of elite grid connections specialists (Connectologists®) and their expert guests help you to better understand distribution and transmission network connections, and how to acquire them faster, at less cost and at lower risk.
Listen on:
Episodes
Monday Sep 25, 2023
Monday Sep 25, 2023
Our team of Connectologists® return for a third podcast in their ‘Grid news and views’ series to discuss some of the most important updates in their field. In this episode our influential connection specialists, among other news, discuss the latest intervention from the ENA and Ofgem regarding the treatment of storage.Additionally, the podcast addresses a range of topical threads:
Changes to the planning regime for onshore wind, and whether they are significant enough to cause a rush of connection applications in England - or even cancellations
The Electricity Networks Commissioner's (Nick Winser) report on accelerating electricity transmission network deployment
The ENA's 'Technical Limits' initiative and how this may enable some embedded connections ahead of transmission reinforcements
Moves to make landowner consent a requirement in transmission applications
Some CUSC mods for storage developers and investors to be aware of
Recorded 6 September 2023
Links:
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Monday Sep 18, 2023
Monday Sep 18, 2023
With the choice of applying for a Bilateral Embedded Generator Agreement (BEGA) or a Bilateral Embedded Licence Exemptible Large Generator Agreement (BELLA) having such high potential impacts on the viability, cost or timing of a connection - and therefore on a project - it pays to understand the implications as well as the high-level choices you will have to make.
Diligent development Directors and Investment Directors will be better placed to make the right calls after listening to this episode, in which two of Roadnight Taylor’s elite connection specialists – Connectologists® Catherine Cleary and Pete Aston – discuss the fundamentals, and where they have seen others go wrong.
Recorded 6 September 2023
Links:
Changing from a BEGA to a BELLA
Notification of Insufficient System Margin (NISM) Overview
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Insights to help you understand projects’ abnormal running risks, and how to mitigate them.
With the levels of risk involved in consenting or acquiring transmission-connected projects, understanding outage risk should be near the top of any good Development or Investment Director's list.
In this podcast hosted by Pete Aston, two other Roadnight Taylor elite connection specialists (Connectologists®) Catherine Cleary and Philip Bale, discuss the key themes that they will cover in an upcoming webinar on this increasingly popular subject.
The webinar is on Wednesday 8 November. More details will follow on our website later, but you can register on Zoom here.
Recorded 11 July 2023
Links:
You can request a recording of the outage risk at distribution webinar here.
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Our team of Connectologists® return for a second podcast in their ‘Grid news and views’ series to discuss some of the most important updates in their field. In this second episode our influential connection specialists, among other news, discuss National Grid’s long term connections reform piece, exploring the changes it results in, and when we can expect an industry update.
Additionally, the podcast addresses other topics, with both specific and wider breadths:
The modification to the commercial connection use of system charging and who it benefits
Discussion of the distribution/transmission boundary as laid out in the ENA’s three-point plan
Some wider news, including Energy UK’s forecast about the UK’s pace of growth in low carbon generation, and how we charge for super grid transformer reinforcements
The modification proposal to introduce queue management at transmission
Project Progression thresholds
Recorded: 03 August 2023
Links:
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Wednesday Jul 26, 2023
Wednesday Jul 26, 2023
Our four Connectologists® get together again to give their views on some of the key news topics in the connections industry.
Among other topics they discuss:
NGESO's recent letter about battery connections being able to connect ahead of non-critical enabling works
experiences with older schemes without milestones being chased by DNOs, as mentioned in the ENA's three-point plan
slow DNO project progressions and how more should be being done across the industry to expediate the processes
how the UK can reach DESNZ's Solar Taskforce target of 70GW solar by 2035
the positivity of large-scale transmission reinforcements being pushed forward in NGET consultations
Recorded: 11 July 2023
Links:
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
In this Connectology® podcast, two of Roadnight Taylor's Connectologists® - Specialist Connections Engineer, Catherine Cleary, and Specialist Connections Manager, Nikki Pillinger - discuss the perils and pitfalls to avoid once a great grid connection offer has been accepted.
Recorded: April 2023
Links:
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Wednesday Jun 28, 2023
Wednesday Jun 28, 2023
The risk of outages on project revenues often trumps ANM curtailment risk, having already cost investors, on individual projects, more than £10 million. These revenue risks rise with connection voltage, connection scale, and the volume of connections being made. Even a cursory look at the ECRs suggest that many portfolios will be harbouring multiple ticking timebombs.
In this podcast, Pete Aston explains why we are hosting an upcoming webinar to share insight to help Development and Investment Directors understand abnormal running risk, and how to go about mitigating the issues identified in their schemes.
The webinar is on Wednesday 12 July at 10.00-11.00.
Recorded: 23 June 2023
Links:
REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR HERE
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Thursday Jun 22, 2023
Thursday Jun 22, 2023
Under the new connection charging and access rules that came into force on 01 April 2023 (SCR), when DNOs provide a curtailable connection they will be required to compensate connected customers for any curtailment above a prescribed level. Curtailed connections may be enduring but may only be interim whilst the DNO carries out reinforcements at their own cost. Either way they will become common-place, and all good Development Directors and Investment Directors should understand the weaknesses of the Curtailment Limit calculation formula, and how the limit differs from DNOs' curtailment reports.
In this Connectology podcast, Pete Aston - who was responsible for the rollout of ANM across National Grid Electricity Distribution's networks - guides you through this new landscape.
Recorded: 13 June 2023
Links:
DCUSA - Access SCR: Changes to Terms of Connection for Curtailable Customers
Request a recording of our webinar on Understanding DNO curtailment reports
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Thursday Jun 08, 2023
Thursday Jun 08, 2023
For the first time, all four of Roadnight Taylor's Connectologists® - Pete Aston, Catherine Cleary, Philip Bale and Nikki Pillinger are together on the same podcast.
In this episode they are discussing the recent connections reform output from National Grid ESO and the Energy Networks Association, as well as Ofgem's open letter on future reform to the electricity connections process, in which it invites feedback from stakeholders by 16 June 2023.
Recorded: 30 May 2023
Links:
The ESO's Five Point Plan
The ENA's Three Point Plan
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Monday Jun 05, 2023
Monday Jun 05, 2023
Energy scheme developers make big calls in deciding whether to take projects forward into planning – and investors make even bigger calls at Final Investment Decision (FID).
Increasingly, there will be at least some risk of curtailment associated with their connections, and often all that they will have to go on is a curtailment report issued by the Distribution Network Operator (DNO).
In this podcast, Connectologists® Pete Aston and Philip Bale explain why they wanted to share, on their upcoming connectology® webinar, insight into ANM and the DNOs' reports, what they will be covering and who will benefit.
The webinar is on Wednesday 14 June at 10.00-11.00.
Recorded: 28 April 2023
Links:
REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR HERE
What is Active Network Management?
What is curtailment and how does it work?
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
Newsletter sign up: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/newsletter/
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/
Talk to us at info@roadnighttaylor.co.uk
Who are Roadnight Taylor?
The Roadnight Taylor team has a connection success rate some five times greater than the market as a whole — on large-scale demand-led projects (housing, commercial and industrial) and energy schemes from solar, wind, battery storage, nuclear, hydrogen and EV charging and from 11,000 to 400,000 volts.
Their Connectologists® are respected and revered within the connections community for their niche expertise, insight, influence, and thought-leadership – and for the edge they give their clients relative to their clients' peers — through acquiring viable distribution and transmission network connections faster, at lower risk, and for less cost.