The UK’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan
The first six months of the new Labour Government has seen a real focus on the UK’s net zero transition plans. In August 2024 the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero formally commissioned National Energy System Operator (NESO) to provide independent, expert advice on delivering clean power by 2030 which was published in November 2024. The Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan (CP30 Action Plan) published on 13 December 2024 responds to that advice, forming the blueprint for the UK’s transition to 95% clean power sources by 2030 (the definition of “clean” power includes renewables, nuclear, biomass, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen produced from low carbon methods).
The CP30 Action Plan is an ambitious 136-page document setting out the steps the Government will take to move to fully renewable electricity generation. Such steps span a number of critical areas such as regulatory and market reform, removing planning and consenting roadblocks, incentivising investment, and grid connectivity. In this article, we examine the planning and consenting proposals that are critical to delivering Clean Power 2030.
The Consenting Challenge
NESO advice indicated there is a sufficient pipeline for renewable technologies to meet the 95% target, however accelerated planning and consenting processes are required to ensure the 2030 target is met. While the construction timelines for different technologies vary, the CP30 Action Plan was clear that most projects in the pipeline need to receive planning permission between 2026 (for new transmission network and offshore wind projects) and 2028 (for new onshore renewable and battery projects).
It is recognised that planning reform for larger scale energy infrastructure needs to be tightly coordinated given the interaction of terrestrial and marine planning regimes, both of which are devolved, with energy as a (mostly) reserved power. In England, for locally‑consented energy infrastructure, “decisive reform” is “urgently needed” to address lengthy delays for planning applications made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. There are also gaps in the NPPF relating to local planning authority decisions on renewable energy proposals. For nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), the process for obtaining a development consent order under the Planning Act 2008, which is intended to take under 24 months, regularly goes beyond this with increasingly complex projects and lengthy documentation. The reform proposals set out in the former Government’s NSIP Action Plan (February 2023) will continue to be implemented but do not go far enough under the CP30 Action Plan. Bespoke measures for planning in Wales and Scotland are also outlined in the CP30 Action Plan.
Accordingly, the following key issues and proposals are made in relation to England:
- Wide ranging legislative reform (through the incoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill) to the NSIP regime under the Planning Act 2008 to build on the reforms set out in the NSIP Action Plan including reintroducing onshore wind at a new threshold of 100MW and altering the existing threshold for solar to 100MW. Increased litigation in relation to NSIPs has been identified as another contributor to delay. Following recommendations from Lord Banner’s review published in December 2024, the Government announced on 23 January 2025 that changes to the judicial review regime for major infrastructure are proposed, including the removal of the initial permission stage which is decided by a judge “on the papers” (i.e. without a hearing). Permission will instead be determined following an oral hearing and it will also no longer be possible to appeal to the Court of Appeal against a decision refusing permission where the judgment finds the claim is “totally without merit”. The intent is to enable challenges to still be heard, but streamline the process to ensure vital infrastructure is not disproportionately delayed; the Government’s statement referred to two recent energy NSIPs (the East Anglia wind farms and Sizewell C nuclear power station) where judicial review claims which were ultimately unsuccessful held up construction for at least two years in each case.
- Updates to national policy instruments to reflect the CP30 Action Plan and to provide greater certainty for developers and decision makers. In particular, at a local level, the NPPF does not make clear that in determining applications for renewable energy generation, local planning authorities should consider the associated benefits and their contribution to meeting a net zero future – such an amendment is therefore likely. The Planning Practice Guidance is also to be updated for renewable and low carbon development to support the updates to NPPF. Updates to the National Policy Statements for Energy are expected.
- Ensuring authorities are equipped with the tools required to deliver Clean Power 2030. A key contributor to planning delay is resourcing and funding issues. In particular, statutory consultee bodies suffering from such issues are often delayed in responding to applications, holding up applications from progressing. The expansion of cost recovery mechanisms is therefore proposed alongside enhanced pre-application support for PINS and consultees with more frequent resourcing reviews to be undertaken by the Government. New performance standards for all public-sector organisations are proposed, as well as improved guidance and support for the private sector to ensure that NSIP applications follow best practice to avoid critical PINS resource being unnecessarily expended dealing with low quality or incomplete applications.
- Embedding the protection of nature in the delivery of Clean Power 2030. The Government is currently working with nature delivery organisations and other stakeholders as to how development can fund nature recovery. To reduce pressures on protected sites, Protected Site Strategies will be expanded in priority areas in England. Introduced by the Environment Act 2021, Natural England is empowered to prepare Protected Site Strategies which will address the conservation and management of a protected site and set out how the impact of plans, projects or other activities (wherever undertaken) on the conservation and management of the protected site will be managed (such sites being a European site, a SSSI or a marine conservation zone). It is unclear as yet what the expansion under the CP30 Action Plan envisages. The UK and Scottish governments are exploring the establishment of industry-funded Marine Recovery Funds into which applicants can pay to discharge their compensation obligations, underpinned by libraries of approved strategic compensation measures. Reforms to the environmental permitting regime to ensure that environmental regulators are empowered and have the requisite information to promptly develop the pollution standards required for the permitting of emerging clean power technologies are proposed. Strategic level decarbonisation of industrial clusters requires further consideration in terms of the interplay of the planning and permitting systems. You can read our thoughts on the planning reform working paper: Development and Nature Recovery here.
- Working with communities to realise direct benefits of hosting clean energy infrastructure. This will build on existing approaches to community benefits within the onshore wind sector (with updated guidance for England to come) and the work undertaken by Solar Energy UK to develop industry-led guidance for solar energy projects. New guidance on voluntary community funds is intended to be published, to ensure that communities benefit in a “fairer, more ambitious and consistent way” from new onshore electricity transmission infrastructure.
Other key areas
The proposed planning reforms are not made in a vacuum and wide-ranging reform across a breadth of areas is necessary to deliver Clean Power 2030. While we do not go into detail here, it is worth noting the following:
- Electricity networks and connections. Changes to the grid connection process are required, particularly to make significant reductions to the time it takes to move through the queue to connect. The Government is working with NESO and Ofgem to provide a framework through which NESO can work with transmission owners and distribution network operators to prioritise projects needed for Clean Power 2030 and still maintaining a robust pipeline beyond 2030. Approximately twice as much new transmission network infrastructure will be needed in the nation’s grid by 2030 as has been built in the past decade, therefore better integration between the regulatory and planning regimes is essential, to drive early investment. The Government is working with Ofgem to explore the appropriateness of tightening the incentives and penalties on electricity transmission owners and distribution network operators to drive the acceleration of network delivery.
- Renewable and nuclear project delivery. Clean Power 2030 relies on a significant deployment of offshore wind development, which in turn depends entirely on the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme securing best price. CfD is a long-term contract between an electricity generator and the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) which enables the generator to stabilise its revenue at a pre-agreed level (known as the Strike Price) for the duration of the contract. Where the market price for electricity falls below the Strike Price, payments are made by the LCCC to the generator to make up the difference, and vice versa; this in turn protects the consumer from market volatility. Proposed changes to the CfD scheme include changes to the information the Secretary of State can use to inform the final budget for fixed-bottom offshore wind, revised auction schedules and parameters, alongside possible changes to eligibility criteria for fixed-bottom offshore wind projects so projects that do not yet have planning consents can participate. The Government will consult on these changes ahead of Allocation Round 7.
- Electricity market reform. Wholesale market reforms are being developed under the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) programme which will need to be delivered expeditiously. The CP30 Action Plan therefore proposes to: (a) publish a REMA update to provide further clarity on how our future electricity market might be designed; (b) commit to a decision across the REMA programme by around mid-2025 and in time for the next CfD Allocation Round 7; and (c) support interim measures from NESO and Ofgem while the REMA programme is completed.
