UK NSIP threshold increase may speed up energy infrastructure deployment

However, Gareth Phillips, energy expert at Pinsent Masons, fears that the threshold increase may “rather delay deployment as projects flounder in local level politics and decision making”.

In the recently published proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, the government has proposed to increase the threshold for onshore wind projects determined at ‘nationally significant’ to 100 megawatts (MW) and to 150MW for solar projects. 

The Planning Act 2008 determined the threshold of 50MW at which solar and onshore wind projects are considered to be nationally significant infrastructure. Projects above the threshold require consent from the secretary of state through the NSIP regime.  Since 2008, technology advances mean that solar panels now enable great MW per site and onshore wind turbines are now larger and more powerful.

However, the level at which such power generation is deemed to be nationally significant has been debated by industry groups for at least a decade, “without clear agreement or evidential basis, for changing it from 50MW”, said Phillips.

Previously, 50-200MW has been considered the "planning dead zone" for solar projects because developers considered it was not cost effective to seek consent through the NSIP regime. However, in the last two years, several solar NSIPs have come forward in the 100-200MW range. 

Phillips said: “The NSIP regime provides investors with a degree of certainty, whereas others such as the town and country planning regime is consistently inconsistent, with decisions by local planning authorities and the planning inspectorate often at odds with each other. For instance, the weight to be applied to decarbonisation, best and most versatile agricultural land, landscape and visual impacts, and very special circumstances in the green belt, are all being treated differently by decision makers.” 

There are concerns, though, over the differing threshold for wind and solar projects. “The concept of applying different thresholds to different technologies is difficult to grapple with. It is the generation of power and associated contribution to the national need that is relevant for determining if a generating station is nationally significant. In my view, the threshold should be the same for all generating technologies,” said Phillips.