This briefing draws on the September 2026 webinar Delivering Clean Energy Through the Planning System, presented by Rob Shaw of Third Revolution Projects with Odette Chalaby of Landmark Chambers and Martyn Jarvis of Town Legal.

For project developers, the new NPPF provides a materially stronger starting point for renewable and low-carbon energy projects, including repowering. At the same time, grid constraint and connections reform are changing project economics and encouraging new models around co-location, private wire, microgrids and integrated generation projects with data centres and industrial uses.

For planners and economic development teams, the implication is that energy infrastructure can no longer be treated as something to resolve after land-use decisions are made.Grid capacity, generation, storage and demand increasingly need to inform spatial strategy, allocations and the deliverability of housing, industry and data centre growth.

For existing assets,the opportunity is to look again at existing sites and portfolios through a wider development lens. Land, planning history, grid access and infrastructure may combine to support higher-value uses, additional generation, storage, private networks or co-located demand. For both asset owners and developers,the key question is increasingly: what combination of land, energy,infrastructure and demand creates the most valuable and deliverable project?

Download the briefing here

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We’ve also prepared a separate paper looking at what this means for Scotland.

Download the Scotland briefing here