Sell a grid connection
Connections reform made an accepted offer with a near term date one of the scarcest assets in UK energy. If you hold one you will not use, it has a market.
What actually trades
A grid connection agreement is a contract between a project and the network operator, tied to a site and a scheme rather than tradeable on its own. So the unit that changes hands is the vehicle around it: consented land with an accepted connection offer, or the SPV that holds the agreement, the consent and the land rights together. Buy the vehicle and the connection comes with it. That distinction matters because it defines what a buyer diligences and what you are actually selling.
Why reform created this market
Before reform the queue held more than 700GW of projects (NESO, 2024), most of which will never be built, and a connection date meant little. The TMO4+ methodology approved by Ofgem in April 2025 changed the logic: projects that met Gate 2 readiness, secured land and planning progress, kept confirmed dates, and the speculative tail lost its place. The result is a two tier market. Holders of accepted offers with near term dates hold something the reformed queue can no longer produce quickly, and developers who need capacity now would rather acquire it than wait for it.
Who the buyers are
Developers whose own pipelines sit behind later dates, IPPs assembling build programmes against the Clean Power 2030 window, and BESS developers hunting import and export capacity, since storage can often make use of a connection a solar scheme cannot fully use. We hold mandates across all three. Tell us the capacity, the date and the site status, and we will tell you honestly whether what you hold is saleable and to whom.
Tell us what you hold
Capacity, connection date, site and consent status, and whether the agreement sits in an SPV. Held in confidence, as always.
Selling a grid connection: common questions
Can a grid connection itself be sold?
A connection agreement attaches to a project and a site rather than existing as a free floating right, so what trades in practice is the project or the land that holds the accepted offer. Selling the SPV that holds the agreement transfers the connection with it. That is why consented land with an accepted offer is the tradeable unit.
What is my accepted connection offer worth?
It depends on the capacity, the date, the securities and milestones attached, and what can be built behind it. After connections reform, near term dates carry genuine scarcity. We will give you a straight view once we see the agreement's headline terms.
I hold a connection for a project I will not build. What are my options?
Broadly three: sell the project vehicle that holds it, bring in a partner who builds against it, or let it lapse and lose it (milestones and securities punish holding without progress). The first two have buyers; we can find them.
Does land with a connection sell for more than land without?
A connection is usually the scarcest input a solar site needs, harder to replace than planning in many cases, so consented land with an accepted offer attracts a different class of buyer than bare land. The premium is asset specific; the demand is not in doubt.
How to get a grid connection?
New applications go through NESO's reformed process, with Gate 2 requiring secured land rights and planning progress before a confirmed date is issued. Our knowledge guides explain the queue and the agreements; if you already hold an offer, you are ahead of the queue that is forming behind you.