Where voltage meets value: can patient capital clear the gridlock?
Grid congestion has become a major bottleneck to the energy transition, tackling the issue will demand a broad investment effort and patient, long-term capital, but can green grids attract the funding required?
“We have enough energy projects in the grid connection queue to deliver clean power by 2030,” remarked the UK’s energy secretary Ed Miliband. “But many are stuck behind speculative schemes, leading to delays of up to 10 years.”
The UK is aiming for a power system run entirely on clean energy by 2030. Achieving that ambition requires an unprecedented revamp of one of the world’s oldest electricity transmission networks. The UK’s National Grid calls this the ‘Great Grid Upgrade’.
Miliband’s remarks reflect a wider global reality – while renewable energy rollouts have picked up their pace, grids are lagging behind. Today, grid congestion is amongst the global energy transition’s most severe challenges.
Not only is a grid upgrade in most countries urgent, but it is also hugely capital intensive. Resolving the connection queue brings into question the investment proposition of green grids. Will green grids succeed in their bid to attract patient climate capital?
Wait in line
It is hard to overstate the centrality of grid congestion to the global net zero agenda.
Take the case of the Netherlands, home to the world’s second-highest rooftop solar per capita figures. The IEA’s review of the country’s energy transition found that in early 2025, there were roughly 7500 generation projects waiting to connect.
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