![\"UK](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GridInfFlowers.jpg\")
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The streamlining of regulations is being announced today (21 April) by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, as part of a broader package of interventions made in response to the oil and gas price crisis caused by the Iran War.<\/p>\n
Miliband will set out plans to allow larger electricity substations to be built without a full planning application. This will allow homes and businesses to connect to electricity more rapidly, while also supporting growing electricity demand from activities such as electric vehicle (EV) charging and data centre development.<\/p>\n
The Government will also create simpler planning routes for routine grid works, including temporary overhead lines, small buildings and extensions within existing substations.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Miliband\u2019s department will consult on whether to allow early ground and archaeological surveys for major transmission projects to\u00a0proceed\u00a0without\u00a0a\u00a0full planning application.<\/p>\n
The measures are designed to facilitate the more rapid build-out of Britain\u2019s grid, which is essential as more renewable generation comes online and as electricity demand increases.<\/p>\n
On the former, Miliband has already confirmed that the Government will host its next annual auction to contract new renewable energy capacity sooner than planned as part of its Iran War response<\/a>. In the most recent auction round, a record 8.4GW of offshore wind projects<\/a>\u00a0were offered contracts.\u00a01.3GW of onshore wind and 4.9GW of solar were also secured.<\/a><\/p>\n Miliband will today say: \u00a0\u201cSince taking office two years ago, the Government has been relentless in our efforts to build clean power at speed and drive electrification across the economy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile some have said we have gone too far and too fast, I profoundly disagree. In response to recent events, our action must now be faster, deeper and more wide-ranging. That is why we will double down, not back down, on our mission for clean energy.\u201d<\/p>\n Onsite renewables and EV charging <\/p>\n As well as the interventions to unlock grid expansion and modernisation, Miliband\u2019s department will kick-start what it describes as a \u201ccross-government sprint\u201d to expand onsite renewable energy generation capacity across the public estate.<\/p>\n Publicly owned energy investment company Great British Energy will\u00a0work with the Ministry of Defence, Network Rail,\u00a0Forestry England\u00a0and\u00a0others to build\u00a0turbines\u00a0and\u00a0solar\u00a0on railway\u00a0and industrial sites and\u00a0untapped\u00a0public land.<\/p>\n DESNZ claims that this could unlock up to 10GW of wind and solar generation capacity.<\/p>\n The Department additionally reiterated reforms that are already underway with the intention of making it simpler and cheaper for homes to install heat pumps, solar and electric vehicle (EV) chargers.<\/p>\n These include Boiler Upgrade Scheme<\/a> funding, reforms to planning rules for heat pumps<\/a>, new permissions for retailers to sell plug-in solar solutions<\/a>, and the introduction of permitted development rights to allow for cross-pavement charging solutions and associated charging points.<\/p>\n On top of this, the Government will consult on changes to building regulations and the introduction of an Ability to Charge. This will look to increase EV charging provision in new buildings and those undergoing major renovations, as well as giving renters and leaseholders easier pathways to request and install charging points.<\/p>\n Miliband will say: \u201cTo ignore one fossil fuel crisis and carry on with business as usual, as some wanted to do, was wrong. To ignore two in less than five years would be completely irresponsible.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it would be even more irresponsible because, unlike the twin fossil fuel shocks of the 1970s, there is now a compelling alternative in the form of clean energy. An alternative that cannot be disrupted by foreign wars because it comes from our own wind, sun and nuclear resources.<\/p>\n \u201cEven before the Iran War, we were seeing record demand for technologies like rooftop solar, batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicles. And in the teeth of this crisis, demand for them is surging.\u201d<\/p>\n Published 21st April 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The streamlining of regulations is being announced today (21 April) by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, as part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-541937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}