Ed Miliband’s energy strategy is collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions. Ministers continue to boast about approving vast amounts of new “clean power”, yet official grid registers show that many of these projects are not scheduled to connect for years and some may never operate as promised at all. This is not because of local opposition or planning delay. It is because the electricity grid is already full, and government policy is racing far ahead of physical reality.
Take Sunnica Solar Farm, repeatedly cited as a flagship example of progress. According to the National Energy System Operator’s own Existing Agreements Register and Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) Register, Sunnica’s contracted grid connection date is 31 October 2030, via a 400kV connection in East Anglia. In other words, despite ministerial approval and years of political promotion, the project is not expected to export power for the best part of a decade. That single fact alone destroys the claim that approval equals delivery.
This is not an isolated case. NESO’s Network Capability Assessments and constraint mapping show that much of East Anglia is already designated Red or Amber for new generation. In practical terms, this means substations are saturated, transmission corridors are congested, and any new project must either accept export limits, face long periods of curtailment, or wait for major reinforcement works that are not due until the late 2020s or 2030s. Approving generation into a system that cannot carry it does not improve energy security , it simply creates stranded assets.
The language used by government is deliberately evasive. When asked about stalled schemes, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero hides behind phrases such as “post-consent work”. In reality, this usually means renegotiating grid connection terms, redesigning projects to cope with reduced export capacity, or waiting indefinitely for transmission upgrades that have yet to begin. Developers are left holding approvals they cannot use, councils face community backlash for projects that do not materialise, and consumers see none of the promised benefits.
Ministers also rely on a deeply misleading metric: headline capacity. Claims that government has approved enough projects to “power millions of homes” are based on theoretical installed capacity, not electricity that can actually be delivered to consumers. National Grid data shows rising levels of wind and solar curtailment, with generators increasingly paid not to produce power because the grid cannot absorb it. At the same time, gas-fired generation remains essential for voltage control, frequency stability, inertia, and winter reliability. If the Clean Power strategy were working, curtailment would be falling and dependence on gas would be shrinking. The opposite is true.
What this exposes is not a minor oversight, but a fundamental failure of system planning. No serious engineer would design an electricity system by approving generation first and hoping transmission capacity appears later. No credible industrial strategy would tolerate decade-long gaps between consent and operation while communities are disrupted for projects that cannot function. Yet this is exactly the model now being imposed from Whitehall.
The unavoidable conclusion is that Ed Miliband is presiding over approval theatre: projects approved on paper, counted as political wins, and used to justify bold claims , while the grid quietly blocks delivery. The evidence for this does not come from campaigners or critics. It comes from the government’s own grid operator and its own registers. Britain is not short of approved energy projects; it is short of a grid capable of using them.
Shane Oxer. Campaigner for fairer and affordable energy
SAY NO TO THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR LAND 
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