Description

Connectologists® Pete Aston, Kyle Murchie, and Alex Ikonic explore the mounting pressures developers face as Gate 2 offers arrive. Transmission offers have three months to accept but queries must be submitted within four weeks. Distribution offers are expected to have about four weeks, though this may vary between DNOs. Securities are due approximately 30 days after acceptance.

The key challenges developers are facing:

• Understanding what's changing: Is this a variation or effectively a new offer? Templates may have changed since 2022, milestones will have changed, and costs could reflect framework price updates, solution changes, or inflation
• Point of connection shifts: GSP connections may move to existing substations (potentially further away, more costly, or under ANM). Transmission nodal names should see firmer locations, though later projects (2030+) could look quite different
• Cost escalation: Transmission connections have seen 50-60-90% level of increases
• Timescale realism: 18 months minimum required to start compliance. Five to seven years from acceptance at a general pace was standard—some current timelines appear significantly compressed
• Information gaps: Without transmission works registers and published TO reports, developers cannot sense-check offers or identify coordination opportunities
• The Mod App bottleneck: The gated process takes about nine months end to end—pushing everything out by approximately a year

Critical next step: Don't put accepted offers "on the shelf"—immediately engage to confirm design progression, payment requirements, and where projects sit in TO gating windows.

We understand the complexity of grid connection challenges, and the Connectologists® hope these insights help developers navigate Gate 2 with greater clarity.

Recorded: 12 November 2025

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