Policy
Great British Grid announced: what it means for home solar and batteries
On 29 September 2026 the government announced Great British Grid, a new publicly owned body inside Great British Energy. Its job is to help deliver the electricity network infrastructure Britain needs, bringing public and private investment together, working beside the existing network operators. The announcement says Ofgem stays the regulator, NESO keeps running and planning the system, and the role of existing network operators does not change.
The press release says the government is already working with NESO and Ofgem to reform grid connections, including overhauling the connections queue and removing more than 300 GW of speculative capacity. It adds plans to expand self-build connections, which it says have cut connection times by up to 11 months in Ireland, and to speed up competitive tendering of transmission projects. Start-up costs come from Great British Energy's existing budgets, and the long-term budget will be set at a future spending review.
For a Whitstable homeowner this is background, not a change to your install. Your solar and battery connect to the local distribution network, which for Kent is run by South Eastern Power Networks, part of UK Power Networks (per its annual review). A small home system is notified to them after fitting, and a larger one needs approval first, and your installer handles it. Nothing in the announcement alters that process.
The long-run link is real, if slow. Demand for electricity is expected to grow as homes add cars and heat pumps, and a stronger network is what lets more rooftop solar and batteries connect without limits. Our own view is that nothing here should make you wait for a home install, and nothing here changes the cost sums on our costs page.
Read the source: GOV.UK (DESNZ and Great British Energy): Great British Grid to speed up connections and cut bills. Figures come from that page. Where we do our own sums we say so. The commentary is our own view, not advice.
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