Josh Cornes, Solar Media Market Research UK & Ireland Portfolio Lead Analyst, analyzes the tree in the British solar development and the impact of grid reform on the planning system.
The British planning system has been overloaded in recent months by sun applications. More than 11GWP was submitted in 2025, the highest capacity that has been submitted in history. Decisions are also at a record high, in which almost 9GWP is decided; More than 7GW has been approved, including eight projects with capacities above 100 MWp.
Projects fly in the planning system, shown in Figure 1. This emphasizes the impact of the deadlines set up by the National Energy System Operator (NESO), in particular the Submission window of Gate 2 that will originally close at the end of July.
Figure 1: UK Solar planning submissions in the past 8 years demolished per quarter, with 2025 almost every years earlier in the first 8 months.
July had submitted the highest capacity in history, with just over 3GWP, a huge number. Only two other months before, June 2025 and December 2024, 2GWP surpassed.
This has been largely helped by the enormous number of large -scale projects that go into the planning, with 10 nationally important infrastructure projects (NSIPs) that introduce the planning system in England and three energy mood unit (ECU) projects that are submitted in Scotland.
The most striking of these are Tween Bridge Solar Farm, Beacon fen Solar Farm and the largest, Great North Road Solar Farm, which together in total more than 2GWP.
It is interesting to see the impact that the grid reform has had on decisions. Where previously there was a lack of urgency for decisions of local planning authorities (LPAs), more than 80 projects were decided in May, June and July, a total of 4.2 GWP.
July 2025 saw most of the decisions of every month since 2015, and the highest capacity in history, except July 2024, then Three NSIP projects were approved one day.
Almost a third of the capacity at LPA level has been refused, a relevant trend because the refusal percentage continues to rise annually.
Not far from half the capacity that was decided in March, was refused (400 MW), with similar numbers that were seen in June and July. Figure 2 shows a map of refused projects in the UK that have submitted a profession (pink) or are awaiting a profession (yellow).
There are currently 50 projects, a total of 2.4 GWP, in the professional process. Figure 2 emphasize where the projects are, with clusters in some of the more active areas in the country, such as Lincolnshire and Cornwall.
Figure 2: A map of the UK marking refused projects, in which England in particular dominated Lincolnshire, Cornwall and the northeast.
So far, 29 projects have completed the professional process in 2025. Of these, 26 were subsequently approved (1.2 GWP) and only three refused (150 MWp). This shows how most projects appeal, with the extra process that only wastes valuable time and resources for developers.
With the GATE 2 -insert closed, there has been a break in the market, with fewer than 10 applications (450 MWp) submitted in August and not much expected in September and October.
Northern Power Grid has seen an enormous increase in the applications, with almost 1.3 GW submitted so far in 2025, almost double that in every year earlier. This enormous increase has caused the largest oversubence of another distribution network operator (DNO) in the country, now planned or operational with 6GW.
Although UK Power Networks has the largest headroom for a DNO, there has been no remarkable increase in applications or decisions, with just over 600 MW in 2025, almost 200 MW less than 2024 and 2023.
Read more about the different queues per DNO here.
UK Solar is in a fantastic position. With the reform of the grid connections that come into effect, the pipeline that grows at a speed of knots and the merged and acquisition market market is growing, there is a chance for both Greenfield Development and Project Construction.
Grid has now been tackled, decisions about projects are finally being made, so the next step is to ask how we build these projects and whether we have the resources.
All the above data comes from the analysis of Solar Media Market Research, which is accessiblehere.
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