Member

These regulations allow NESO, the National Energy System Operator, to issue amended non-qualification determinations to correct its own errors. The primary impact is that NESO can now disqualify projects previously approved by it in error, injecting project risk—significant risk, I might add—for investors and those putting the proposals forward. How will this impact on developers? It is clear in the statutory instrument: there is a retroactive disqualification risk. NESO is now empowered to issue corrected notices to projects that were wrongly deemed qualified at the assessment stage, stripping away previously approved allocation status. There are reinstated appeal rights: if a developer receives an amended non-qualification determination, they maintain their legal right to challenge the decision via the standard two-tier appeal system. There are also contractual safeguards. On those, I ask the Minister: what about projects that are ultimately caught in reshuffling delays or queues due to NESO’s wider connection reform programme?