Research Paper // Jennings & Berger 2026
Unlocking Idle
Grid Capacity
Through Hyper-Local
Secondary Markets
Connection queues stretch years while allocated capacity goes to waste. A market-based reform can release idle grid access, accelerate electrification, and defer costly infrastructure expansion.
The Grid Connection
Conundrum
Over 1,000 GW of renewable capacity awaits connection across Europe. Connection queues stretch five to ten years. Yet substantial volumes of already-allocated capacity sit idle — reserved for peaks that occur only briefly each year.
Capacity is granted on a maximum-capacity basis, but utilisation tells an entirely different story. Wind farms average 25–40% of their export capacity. Industrial customers commonly use just 40–70% of their import allocation. The result is artificial scarcity amid systemic waste.
The Paradox in Numbers
1,700+
GW renewables blocked by grid bottlenecks in Europe
25–40%
Typical wind capacity factor — most export capacity sits unused
Speculative Hoarding
Developers secure capacity before project viability is confirmed, blocking access for ready projects.
Static Allocation
Once granted, capacity rights are rarely adjusted even where actual usage falls far below agreed levels.
Absent Price Discovery
Connection charges recover infrastructure cost rather than signal locational scarcity — prices don't guide capacity to its highest-value use.
Temporal Mismatch
Capacity is reserved on a firm, annual basis even though system stress occurs only during limited peak hours.
Underutilised Network Assets
Grid infrastructure is sized for a coincident peak that may occur only briefly each year, leaving headroom idle for most of it.
A Secondary Market for
Unused Connection Capacity
The paper proposes allowing generators and demand customers to buy, sell or lease their capacity rights on a locational basis — including seasonal and time-of-day products — within system-operator-defined "capacity transfer locales" that preserve grid security.
Market Architecture Overview
Sellers
Holders of underutilised capacity
- —Generators with surplus / seasonal export rights
- —Industrial / demand sites with unused off-peak import capacity
- —Queued / speculative holders releasing rather than hoarding
Market & Registry
- Matching engine — price discovery, locational
- Clearing conditions — time-of-day, season, min. term
- Transparent registry — records each transfer of rights
System Operator Validates
Preserves technical limits · Registers rights
Buyers
Parties needing access now
- —New generation / demand avoiding the connection queue
- —Long-duration storage providing balancing & capacity services
- —Electrifying loads: EV hubs, heat pumps, electrolysers
All transfers occur within "Capacity Transfer Locales" — geographic areas defined by the system operator where transfers are permissible from a grid-security perspective.
Economic Efficiency
Under-utilising parties monetise surplus capacity. New entrants obtain access without waiting years for infrastructure upgrades.
Improved Utilisation
Idle import/export headroom is leased during defined time windows, raising effective load factors and deferring reinforcements.
Locational Investment Signals
Market prices reveal where scarcity is most acute, guiding grid reinforcement and siting of new load or generation.
Reduced Queue Backlogs
Holding unused capacity carries an opportunity cost, discouraging speculative reservations and shortening queue times.
Compatibility with Reliability
Trades are centrally registered and validated by system operators. Technical limits and conditional rights are preserved.
Authors
J. Jennings¹ and T. Berger²
Affiliations
¹ Meadean Limited, UK
² Associmates GmbH, Germany
Year
2026
Pages
7 pages · PDF
Keywords
The Ultimate Electricity Grid Connection Conundrum
The Case for Hyper-Local Secondary Grid Capacity Markets
Abstract
Electricity grid connection capacity is increasingly scarce, yet much of the capacity already allocated is used only intermittently. Connection queues now extend years in many jurisdictions, while network reinforcement remains slow, costly and contested. The result is a paradox in which long waiting lists for grid access coexist with substantial volumes of allocated-but-idle capacity, holding back the electrification on which decarbonisation depends.
This paper defines grid connection capacity in the context of generation and demand assets, presents anecdotal evidence on utilisation levels, and identifies the structural inefficiencies of prevailing allocation models. To address these inefficiencies, the paper proposes a secondary market for unused connection capacity that would allow generators and demand customers to buy, sell or lease their capacity rights on a locational basis, including seasonal and time-of-day products. Within system-operator-defined "capacity transfer locales" that preserve grid security, such a hyper-local secondary market would improve economic efficiency, raise effective network utilisation, generate locational investment signals, shorten queue backlogs and support electrification targets.
Download Full Paper (PDF)
7 pages · ~1.1 MB
Citation
Jennings, J. and Berger, T. (2026) 'The Ultimate Electricity Grid Connection Conundrum: The Case for Hyper-Local Secondary Grid Capacity Markets'. Meadean Limited / Associmates GmbH.