Every GB network operator returns a cited verdict. Here is exactly which half of the picture is live in your patch.
Two halves, filled in separately. A useful verdict needs two things: how much spare capacity the local substation has, and who is already in the queue for it. Every DNO publishes both, in a different format and on a different schedule. We ingest, validate and calibrate one at a time, and we would rather show you exactly which half is live in your patch than claim national coverage.
Across 136 applications in the domestic market, roughly one in two returned with an export restriction. Grid headroom is the single biggest variable in whether a solar or battery job completes, and the one an installer can least see before quoting.
Ofgem opened a consultation on 29 July: a refundable commitment fee and tougher milestones for large data centre connections, after a threefold rise in demand connection applications in under a year. It does not apply to G98 or G99.
It matters to an installer because the projects sitting ahead of you must increasingly prove financial capability and procurement progress to keep their place. Some will not. When they drop out, headroom moves. A capacity answer from six months ago is not the answer today.
Compliant products get a legal route onto the UK market: 800 VA maximum inverter output, up to 2,000 W of panels, no battery. Most kits on UK shelves today include one.
The part most buyers will miss: a plug-in unit is generation connected to the network, so it is notifiable under G98 exactly like a rooftop system. The product specification moved to one device per final ring circuit on 16 July, while G98 still caps output at 800 VA per household. An imported balcony kit does not become legal on 27 August.
Ofgem’s Transforming the Connections Experience decision requires network companies to answer pre-application enquiries within a set time, to support right-first-time applications, and to give every applicant a named contact once a complete application is accepted.
For an installer that is a lever rather than a headline. A complete, correct application is now something the operator is obliged to help you get right, and a named contact is something you can ask for by name.
Ofgem’s Transforming Connections Data consultation proposes a new Demand Capacity Register covering transmission and distribution, a new Distribution Works Report showing reinforcement on distribution networks, and targeted work on the Embedded Capacity Register: common identifiers, better location data, fewer gaps. Responses close on 6 November 2026 and the outcome is expected in spring 2027.
One change is already live. The ECR template now carries a unique project identifier, so a project can be followed from one monthly publication to the next instead of being matched by name and address each time. Ofgem also dropped the idea of a blanket real-time accuracy duty, because these datasets update at very different speeds. That is the honest position, and it is ours: a capacity figure has a date, and every figure here carries it.
Ofgem agreed to push the Gate 2 Phase 1 offer deadline from 30 September to 31 October 2026, affecting about 62 offers. NESO had issued 133 of 158 Phase 1 offers for the England and Wales distribution networks when it asked. The later milestones are unchanged: distribution Phase 1 complete by 30 November, Gate 2 Phase 2 offers by 31 January 2027, Phase 2 distribution complete by 31 March 2027.
Most rooftop projects between 50 kW and 5 MW sat below the land-evidence threshold, which applied above 1 MW, so they were never directly in scope. They compete for the same substations all the same. Expect the queue figures in these registers to move every month between now and March, which is exactly why each one here is published with its date.
Every figure on this page comes from a third-party publisher and is reproduced as published. Data sources and accuracy.