Gate 2 connection reform explained

What Gate 2 tests

Connections reform replaced first-come, first-served queueing with readiness and strategic alignment. A project meets the Gate 2 readiness criteria by one of two routes in NESO's Gate 2 Criteria Methodology:

• Land route: secured land rights for the whole site, an Original Red Line Boundary showing that land, and at least the minimum acreage for the technology and capacity.
• Planning route: for projects following the Development Consent Order (DCO) process, a submitted and validated DCO application.

Secured land rights mean one of:

• An option agreement of at least 3 years from signing, with a lease or purchase of at least 20 years from exercise of the option
• Existing ownership of the land (Land Registry title or title deeds)
• An existing lease with at least 20 years left at the date the Gate 2 evidence is submitted

Strategic alignment compares each project with the capacity the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets for its technology. Phase 1 covers projects needed for 2030 and Phase 2 projects needed by 2035; both are part of the Gate 2 offer process. Phase 1 follows the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan allocations for 2030, Phase 2 its allocations for 2035.

The Gate 2 offer timetable

NESO's licence sets a time limit for connection offers, and Ofgem has agreed alternative deadlines for this exercise. Ofgem's letter of 2 October 2026 moved the Phase 1 deadline to 31 October 2026 for Phase 1 offers only; the Phase 2 deadline stays at 31 January 2027.

Minimum land per MW

NESO's Energy Density Table sets the minimum acreage inside the red line boundary, per MW of capacity. For example, a 50 MW distribution-connected battery needs at least 0.495 acres and a 50 MW transmission-connected solar farm at least 100 acres. Offshore figures are per square kilometre: offshore wind (fixed) 0.0581 km² per MW; offshore wind (floating) 0.09 km² per MW.

A project below the table's minimum gives a justification in its Readiness Declaration. The full table, including nuclear, CHP, hydro, storage and wave and tidal technologies, is in NESO's Letter of Authority Guidance.

Gate markers on the TEC register

Since 21 November 2025 NESO's TEC register carries a Gate column, filled in once an agreement is countersigned, so many entries are not yet marked. On the register file of 16 October 2026, 124 unbuilt entries (20.8 GW) carry Gate 2 and 830 (295.0 GW) carry Gate 1.

The full register summary by status, area and year is in the TEC register guide.

Reform results and capacity left

NESO's reform results, published 8 December 2025, give 283 GW of generation and storage in NESO's re-ordered pipeline (Gate 2 offers, connection dates to 2035), plus 99 GW of demand. The queue before reform was 722 GW. Batteries with Gate 2 offers total 83.2 GW (Phase 1 34.5 GW, Phase 2 48.7 GW), in NESO's own figures.

For later application windows, NESO publishes the capacity still permitted by technology. NESO's battery rule: “For future application windows there is no permitted capacity for batteries to enter the pipeline unless the project qualifies under protection clause 2b or 3a, more than 55 GW of Gate 2 batteries leave the pipeline, or strategic energy plans raise permitted battery capacity by more than 55 GW.”

Remaining permitted capacity after Gate 2 allocations, substitutions and rebalancing. NESO says these figures change as projects leave the pipeline or new strategic plans are published. NESO publishes the zone geography only as a map image in the same document, so we show the zone figures, not zone boundaries.

Checking a project

The Delivery Year Gate 2 checklist applies these rules to a queued project from the public registers, or to your own: readiness route, land rights, minimum acreage from NESO's table, red line boundary, planning regime and remaining zone capacity, each with its NESO source. NESO and the network operator decide; the checklist is information, not advice.

Sources

• Ofgem: agreement to a further alternative timetable for issuing Gate 2 Phase 1 connection offers (2 October 2026) · Ofgem publication
• Ofgem decision letter, 2 October 2026 (PDF) · Ofgem publication
• NESO: further request to the Authority on the G2TWQ offer timetable (25 September 2026) · NESO publication
• NESO: Gate 2 Criteria Methodology (December 2025) · NESO publication
• NESO: Letter of Authority Guidance v2.2 (July 2025), Energy Density Tables · NESO publication
• NESO: Connections Reform Detailed Results Data (January 2026 update) · NESO publication
• NESO: Connections Reform Results · NESO Open Data Licence
• NESO: connections reform battery figures · NESO Open Data Licence
• NESO: Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) register · NESO Open Data Licence

Figures are a snapshot of the latest published data and are rebuilt with every data refresh. Check primary sources before relying on any figure. Methodology & data use · Plans