The Connectology® Podcast by Roadnight Taylor

#10 Optimising flexible connections to maximise income – what every good Development and Investment Director should know

Active Network Management (ANM) and intertrips can both suck financial performance out of projects. There are nuances between these flexible arrangements, and with a better understanding of each, investors in contracted projects – or even connected projects – can seek out opportunities to significantly increase exported energy (and/or import) and so increase revenues.
In this podcast two of our Connectologists®, Philip Bale and Pete Aston, explain intertrips and ANM, and help developers and investors to understand how and when each of these flexible arrangements can be removed, interchanged or combined to minimise both curtailment and incidents of sites being constrained-off.
Recorded: 8 March 2023
Links:
Explainer: What is ANM?
Explainer: What is curtailment and how does it work?
Explainer: What is a soft intertrip?
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#09 Third party works - what every good Development and Investment Director should know

Third party works can have a significant impact on the capital costs and the connection timescale of a transmission connected scheme. Across the industry there is an increasing understanding that third party works can bring real risks to a project, but there remains some lack of awareness of requirements, roles and responsibilities among not only the connecting customers but also the network operators themselves.
In this podcast two of our Connectologists®, Pete Aston and Catherine Cleary, explain what third party works are, the risks they bring and how you get from a clause in your connection offer to bottoming out the third party works impact. They also explain how Roadnight Taylor can help you apply to a DNO and assess the impact of third party works on your projects.
 
Links:
Explainer: What are Third Party Works? 
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/
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#08 NGESO securities and liabilities: insights for success and risk management in connections

With the threat of cancellation charges in the tens of £millions touching a significant proportion of utility-scale energy projects, now, a Development Director or Investment Director's improved understanding of the key drivers can make or save entire schemes, let alone save you £millions.
In this episode, Catherine Cleary and Pete Aston (who we lose half way through!) give insight into NGESO's securities and liabilities methodologies and how to achieve success and manage risk - which we will cover in more detail in our webinar on 9 March. The link to sign up is below.
Recorded: 9 February 2023
Links:
Sign up to the webinar on 9 March: Webinar Registration - Zoom
National Grid’s (very good and very detailed) presentation on the topic
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/ 
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#07 Game or be Gamed? The Significant Code Review: strategies and tactics when connecting under the new rules

Roadnight Taylor Connectologist® Pete Aston joins Hugh Taylor to discuss the Significant Code Review (SCR) and the tactics and strategies that could be used by parties in grid connections to game the new system.
There will be many winners and losers under the new connection rules – with £millions being won or lost by developers and investors on individual schemes alone. 
Pete sees understanding nuances around point of connection voltage as one of the biggest areas of opportunity – or risk – for connection customers. He explains interim arrangements around flexible connections, including Active Network Management (ANM) and curtailment.
Plus, Pete gives his view on how the nature and importance of post-acceptance offer management – and liaison with the DNO – might change amongst the potential bow-wave of new applications after the 1 April 2023.
Recorded: 26 January 2023
 
Links:
All risks and opportunities under SCR are discussed in more detail for each market sector in our ‘Game or be Gamed?’ webinars. Links to request the full recordings of these can be found here.
 
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/ 
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#06 NetZero Vs RIIO-ED2 final determinations

Roadnight Taylor Connectologists® Pete Aston and Catherine Cleary discuss the RIIO-ED2 final determinations with Merlin Hyman, Chief Executive of Regen.
We wanted to talk with Merlin about Regen’s and his concerns about the determinations. £billions are at stake for investment in the development of network infrastructure and the grid and it’s crucial that this is done right to help the nation reach net zero, wean off fossil fuels and reduce energy bills.
Among other things, a better steer from Central Government to Ofgem and a new independent body to define network requirements were discussed as better solutions.
 
Recorded 25 November 2022
Links:
Regen: https://www.regen.co.uk/
Ofgem RIIO-ED2 final determinations: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/riio-ed2-final-determinations
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/ 
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#05 The gifts we’d like to give the GB electricity networks for Christmas

Pete Aston hosts a festive chat with two of our other Connectologists®, Philip Bale and Nikki Pillinger, to find out what they would like the networks and DNOs to receive for Christmas to help improve the connections process and the net zero energy transition.
They include extra funding, support and resource for the DNOs and better joined-up strategies. They've put improved battery modelling, grid queue and application management, transmission reinforcement charging and more on the list for Santa!
Recorded 25 November 2022
 
Links:
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/ 
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#04 National Grid’s new modelling assumptions for battery storage

Gamechanger - might your generation connection timeframes reduce by a decade?
National Grid has radically updated its assumptions around the operation of BESS, and therefore the impact of battery storage on reinforcement requirements.
Two of our Connectologists®, Pete Aston and Catherine Cleary, discuss how this works, how and where grid queues may be freed up to allow more generation and storage to connect much earlier – and what else NGESO might be in the pipeline to help accelerate connections.
Recorded: 25 November 2022
 
Links:
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/ 
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Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roadnight-taylor-ltd/ 
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#01 National Grid’s TEC Amnesty: cool strategies that good Development and Investment Directors should know

In this episode, Catherine Cleary, one of our Connectologists®, talks about National’s Grid TEC Amnesty. This is a time limited opportunity for project developers to cancel connection offers that they have already accepted without incurring cancellation charges. Catherine identifies opportunities for the cancellation, downsizing or refining of schemes that can bring benefits for Development and Investment Directors of projects.
Recorded: 21 October 2022 
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/ 
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#03 Tertiary connections: what every good Development and Investment Director should know

The dash for transmission connections started with the developer community seeking tertiary connection opportunities. Many are now being secured and transacted. In this episode, Pete Aston, one of our Connectologists®, gives an overview of what Development and Investment Directors should know about these idiosyncratic connections.  
Recorded: 21 October 2022 
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/  
Pete’s blog on ‘The problem with tertiary connections’: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/the-problem-with-tertiary-connections/ 
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#02 The Significant Code Review: what every good Development and Investment Director should know

In this podcast, Pete Aston, one of our Connectologists®, gives a brief introduction to the huge topic of the upcoming changes to how connection charges are calculated at distribution level – Ofgem’s Significant Code Review (SCR). 
These changes will present both significant risks and opportunities to existing connected projects (including energy generation and storage schemes, and commercial and industrial demand-led schemes), as well as accepted but not yet connected projects, and even those which haven’t been applied for yet. 
There will be many losers and many winners as a result of decisions made regarding SCR.  Millions will be won and lost on individual projects. Pete gives Investment and Development Directors a sense of what they need to think about to make sure they come out on top. 
We will be running a series of webinars called ‘Game or be Gamed’ on the SCR topic. 
Recorded: 21 October 2022 
Website: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/ 
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