The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change believes that there is currently approximately 17 gigawatts of new generation capacity waiting to be connected to the grid.

When announcing the details of its Low Carbon Transition Plan in July, the UK Government said it would reform the previous system of projects getting a connection date on a first come, first served basis regardless of when the project would start generating energy. This meant some wind farms were given connection dates years after they were due to start producing electricity.

“Access to the electricity grid has been one of the key barriers to the generation of renewable energy in this country. We are determined to resolve this issue. We need these new projects to get hooked up to the grid as soon as they are ready – both to help tackle climate change and secure our future energy supplies,” said Mr Miliband.

For the first time, the Government will be making the detailed reforms to grid access rules that are necessary to overcome the delays. Previously, reforms were proposed by industry and then approved or rejected by the regulator, Ofgem.

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Meanwhile, Siemens will strengthen its smart grid portfolio in Germany, after acquiring a 60 per cent stake in Energy4U, a German-based smart metering and billing company.

Energy4U specialises in SAP implementation of customer information and billing systems for utilities. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction remains subject to final approval by the German antitrust authorities.

Siemens says that it is stepping up its activities in connection with innovative solutions for intelligent and efficient power networks, known as smart grids.