Executive Summary
- A new report from Hoare Lea argues how private wire networks are now making economic sense for developers to help get through the grid bottleneck
- By bringing together on-site – or nearby – wind turbines or solar parks, alongside BESS and intelligent energy use, projects can ‘break free’ from the grid’s constraints, the report notes
- Energy market conditions are ‘perfect to find the right mix that directly matches the power generation and demand profile for a business with high energy needs’
A new report from engineering consultancy firm Hoare Lea has argued that private wire networks now make economic sense for developers to help get past the grid bottleneck.
The report, titled ‘Jumping the Big Energy Queue’ and published at UKREiiF, found that many industry players ‘don’t realise that they can own, operate, and adopt their own power supply-side system, or find investors willing to own energy assets on their behalf’. Private wire networks, therefore, could supply energy from a nearby renewable source, for instance, rather than source power solely through the National Grid.
The grid bottleneck remains a major headache for all UK stakeholders looking to push through electrification projects. Ofgem’s Demand Connections Update made the direction of travel clear, with demand connection applications surging from 41GW in late 2024, to more than 125GW by the middle of 2025. It is not a failure of ambition, but reflects a structural constraint that is now shaping outcomes, the report argues.
According to Hoare Lea, delays of up to a decade are ‘already tearing through capital expenditure planning and procurement for heavy industry, data centres, logistics, transport infrastructure and science and research facilities.’ Alongside this, the current geopolitical instability means the UK ‘could be haunted by the spectre of natural gas shocks for decades’, as Hoare Lea puts it.
By bringing together on-site – or nearby – wind turbines or solar parks, alongside BESS and intelligent energy use, projects can ‘break free’ from the grid’s constraints. At the moment, Hoare Lea notes, completely autonomous private wire networks with no national grid connections are feasible in the UK, but evidently rare.
The company cited the need for developers to be brave if choosing private wire networks, noting the feasibility of new technology, particularly battery storage, ‘up to 99% of the time, perhaps more if you’re brave.’ Traditional generators can be deployed for the very small window where backup is needed. Hoare Lea also noted that site owners’ concern that they will have to become power generators can be mitigated, with investors willing to own energy assets on a client’s behalf.
“Right now, the energy market conditions are perfect to find the right mix that directly matches the power generation and demand profile for a business with high energy needs,” said Laurence Johnson, principal of the utility and energy infrastructure group at Hoare Lea. “If developers are brave, there could be a whole market of products here wrapped up in a 30-year investable concept – great for banks and others, with a guaranteed rate of return.”
