The Great Grid Con: How RWE Is Playing Yorkshire for Profit With Tween Bridge

The people of Yorkshire are being sold a lie. RWE’s Tween Bridge Solar Farm.A monster scheme of 800 MW solar and 400 MW batteries,isn’t about powering homes or saving the planet. It’s about gaming the planning system, grabbing land, and locking in speculative consents that could be traded for profit long before a single watt ever reaches the grid.Because here’s the truth: the wires don’t exist. The grid can’t take it. And the developers know it.

1. The Grid Reality They Don’t Want You to See

National Grid ESO’s Appendix G and Northern Powergrid’s own figures show it clearly:

The Yorkshire–Humber corridor (Brinsworth, Thorpe Marsh, Doncaster B, West Melton, Thurcroft) is already in Red constraint.Reinforcements aren’t expected until the late 2020s or early 2030s.That means there is no viable way to plug in Tween Bridge this decade. With over a gigawatt of combined capacity, it needs transmission-level upgrades. Without them, energisation is impossible before the 2030s.Yet RWE presses ahead anyway. Why? Because a consent in hand,even for an undeliverable project,has speculative value.

2. Withdrawal & Re-application:

A Developer’s Trick

RWE withdrew its first Tween Bridge application on 15 August. Then, like clockwork, they re-submitted on 28 August.Why the games? Because your objections,and those of others,exposed a fatal weakness: under the Planning Act 2008, projects must be “capable of implementation.”The first application wasn’t.

They knew it.So they hit reset, hoping nobody would notice. In doing so, they:

Softened the grid story,claiming they can tap into an “existing” overhead line (ignoring that it still requires reinforcement).Changed their language,from hard dates to vague promises like “earliest 2029.”Dodged proof,avoiding a firm Statement of Works with National Grid.This isn’t transparency. It’s theatre. Designed to keep the paperwork moving and the land tied up,while the truth is hidden in the small print.

3. Your Complaint Exposed the Scam

Your intervention went straight to the jugular:

There is no viable grid connection.Both the 2011 EN-1 policy and the 2023 draft require developers to prove grid feasibility. And the Examining Authority (ExA) has the power to drag this issue into the spotlight.If the weakness is on record, it gives teeth for:

Rule 6 hearings – where feasibility can be formally tested.Judicial Review challenges – if consent is granted without credible deliverability, it could be unlawful.You exposed the gap between the glossy promises and the cold reality of the grid. That’s why they scrambled to reapply.

4. What This Really Means:

Speculation, Not Power

The withdrawal and re-submission tell us everything. RWE isn’t building for Yorkshire. They’re building for their balance sheet.They want to bank the consent now, trade it as an asset, and let communities carry the scars.Loss of farmland, loss of countryside, industrialisation of villages,for power that may not flow until the 2030s, if ever.This is speculation dressed up as green virtue. And it’s happening in our backyard.

5. The Documents Don’t Lie

RWE admits the project needs a new National Grid substation, with a pencilled connection in 2029.They say they’ll use an “existing overhead line,” but that only works with major reinforcements.Reinforcements not yet funded, not yet built, and not guaranteed.Appendix G data confirms it:

Brinsworth and surrounding substations are already at capacity, with no near-term availability.In short: the project is not wired.

6. How People Are Being Played

The playbook is simple:

1. Get consent first.

2. Lock up the land.

3. Sell the dream.

4. Leave communities to deal with the wreckage when the grid isn’t ready.It’s greed dressed as green. And it’s Yorkshire that pays the price.

Conclusion:

No Wires, No Project

RWE’s Tween Bridge scheme isn’t a clean energy project,it’s a financial instrument. A paper project that gambles on future infrastructure the grid operator hasn’t built, and may not deliver for a decade.Meanwhile, farmland is sacrificed. Communities are misled. And billions are siphoned from energy bills to fund fantasies that cannot be delivered.The message to decision-makers must be crystal clear:

Consent without wires is consent without value. No wires, no project. No more being played for greed.