Power access as a driver of development value
Land, a deliverable grid connection, on-site generation, storage and occupier demand fit together — and the difference between potential capacity and contracted supply is worth a great deal.
Development value has traditionally been read from location, planning and construction cost. Electricity is joining that list. Heat pumps, electric cooking, EV charging and data-heavy occupiers all raise a building’s power demand, and grid connections in many European cities are now a constraint rather than a formality.
The components fit together in sequence. Land with a confirmed connection offer is worth more than land with a theoretical one. On-site generation — rooftop PV — reduces import and improves the building’s energy rating and financing terms. Storage smooths demand and can reduce the connection capacity a building needs to contract. Occupier demand determines whether any of this is used.
The critical distinction is between potential power capacity — what a substation could in principle supply — and contracted, deliverable and operational supply. A developer holding a signed connection agreement with a firm date has something a competitor with an enquiry letter does not.
Private-wire arrangements, where a generator supplies a neighbouring building directly, are emerging as a way to secure supply and price certainty outside the public grid, though they carry regulatory and counterparty complexity.
For student housing specifically, where all-inclusive rents put energy cost on the operator, secure and efficient power is not an environmental extra. It is part of the income case.
