Grid & ConnectionsStorage & Resilience

Will planning and land reform actually speed delivery?

Wednesday 17 June 202610:00 BSTVirtual event · Electrical Review
Electrical Review — The Briefing

This Briefing is taking place today, Wednesday 17 June 2026. Registration has now closed as the event is live.

The UK Government is doubling down on its clean energy plan, and it’s putting planning reform, land access, public land and grid delivery at the centre of it. It’s also considering taking a more interventionist approach, as it looks at deciding where generation, storage and networks should be built.

While some of the measures are new, some of us may feel a sense of déjà vu. After all, we’ve been promised smoother grid connections and easier planning mechanisms before — so what makes this different? This Briefing will ask that exact question.

We’ll look at whether planning and land reform can remove real bottlenecks, how far strategic siting and queue discipline may now influence project sequencing, and what developers, owners and operators should do if policy is becoming more directive about where and when assets get built.

Agenda

10:00

Opening remarks

10:05

Operator keynote — an operator’s point of view

Katherine Kerr · Manager, Energy Networks · Baringa Partners

  • What the package changes for projects trying to move from consent to connection
  • Why planning, land rights and grid reform are now being treated as one delivery problem
  • How Reformed National Pricing could change where projects are encouraged to locate
  • Whether a more strategic system will reduce delay, or simply move decisions upstream
10:20

In conversation — a vendor’s point of view

Session sponsor

Estanislao Utrilla · VP Customer Support and Operations · Openwave

10:35

Panel discussion

Moderated by Antony Cook · Power & Utilities Partner · PwC

  • Can ministers really cut the route from policy to connection?
  • Which delivery bottlenecks matter most in practice: planning, land access, queue discipline or network build
  • How developers should respond if siting becomes more strategic and less market-led
  • What Connection Capacity Thresholds could mean for project sequencing and investment timing
11:20

Q&A

11:25

Close

Speakers

Keynote

Katherine Kerr

Manager, Energy Networks

Baringa Partners

Panel moderator

Antony Cook

Power & Utilities Partner

PwC

Panellist

Wayne Davies

Head of Flexibility UK & Ireland

Enel X

Panellist

Paul Glendinning

Director of Energy Systems

Northern Powergrid

Session sponsor

Estanislao Utrilla

VP Customer Support and Operations

Openwave