Sweden-based renewable energy company Orrön Energy has secured grid connections for three solar PV projects with a generation capacity of approximately 1.8 GW.
In addition to the three solar projects, the company has also secured grid connections for three data center projects with a cumulative capacity of 1.1 GW. Orrön Energy did not confirm the location or individual size of any of the projects, but did say they are greenfield sites.
The company said it expects more binding details on the network connections in the third quarter of 2026. After approval of the network and secured land, the locations are now ready for permitting. Orrön Energy has not provided a development timeline.
Orrön Energy has also secured municipal approval in Germany for three solar projects with a nominal capacity of approximately 250 MW and has “promoted a significant pipeline of large-scale battery projects” in the country.
The British grid connections were granted as part of the British network reform process published its preliminary results in December. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) reforms aim to prioritize ‘turnkey’ projects in the interconnection queue, instead of the old ‘first come, first served’ system.
NESO said it has freed up 381.5GW of turnkey energy capacity with the changes, which are intended to link to the government’s Clean Power 2030 policy, to power the UK with almost 100% renewable energy by the end of this decade.
Orrön Energy received Gate 2 approvals for its three solar projects, which is a more concrete offer than NESO’s Gate 1 approval. Gate 2 means that the projects have met the readiness and strategic requirements of the grid reforms, and will be given a concrete grid connection date either before 2030 (phase 1) or before 2035 (phase 2).
“I am very pleased with the strong progress and results coming from our greenfield platforms in the UK and Germany. Securing the Gate 2 network connections in the UK allows us to move forward with some of the discussions that were temporarily paused due to the now completed network reform process,” said Daniel Fitzgerald, CEO of Orrön Energy.
The network reforms were met with cautious approval by the UK solar industry – with some developers saying the approval process was rushed Solar energy portal heard that this would inevitably happen ‘winners and losers’ from the processas the size of the interconnection queue before the reforms exceeded the required capacity to meet clean energy demand in 2030.
Battery energy storage system (BESS) projects may feel the sharp end of the changes, with 153 GW of proposals at odds with the reform prioritization process. The non-priority projects were either given Gate 1 approvals, which are subordinate to Gate 2 and subject to future reviews, or removed from the queue entirely.
As the electricity grid reform process progressed last year, the UK industry underwent significant shifts “boom” in mergers and acquisitions.
