The G99 Fast Track process connects small generation and storage installations in around 10 working days instead of a full G99 assessment. The three SGI categories, the forms, and the details that keep an application moving.
A full G99 application carries a published assessment target of 45 working days from a complete submission, and on some networks the reality runs longer. For a lot of the jobs install businesses actually do, that wait is unnecessary. The G99 Fast Track process exists for exactly those installations: small generation and storage on existing premises that qualify as a Small Generation Installation, assessed in around 10 working days rather than 45, because the equipment is type tested and the network impact is predictable.
Many install businesses first meet the idea as a surprise. You cross the 16A per phase line that separates G98 from G99, assume the job is now into a full assessment with a fee and a three month wait, and quote the customer accordingly. For installations up to 60A per phase of total registered capacity, there is a quicker route, and the DNOs run it as a separate queue.
G98 and G99 applications in the project
Payaca handles G98 and G99 applications through ENA Connect inside the project. See how it works.
Eligibility is built on three Small Generation Installation categories. Every generating unit, storage included, must run through an inverter that is type tested to EREC G98 or G99, and the installation must sit on an existing premise as a single generator installation. Kit installed before 27 April 2019 can be G59 or G83 type tested instead.
| Design capacity, per unit | Registered capacity, per unit | Total registered capacity | G100 export limit | Form | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SGI-1 | 32A (7.36kW) or less | 16A (3.68kW) or less | 16A (3.68kW) or less | Not required, the inverter's limit is factory set | A3-3, notification only |
| SGI-2 | 32A (7.36kW) or less | 16A (3.68kW) or less | 32A (7.36kW) or less | May be required, limiting export to 16A (3.68kW) | A1-2 to apply, then A3-2 to notify |
| SGI-3 | 32A (7.36kW) or less | 32A (7.36kW) or less | 60A per phase or less | May be required, limiting export to 32A (7.36kW) | A1-2 to apply, then A3-2 to notify |
The distinction between design capacity and registered capacity is what catches most teams out, and it decides the category before any form is filled in. A 7.36kW inverter with a factory-set 3.68kW export limit has a registered capacity of 3.68kW, which can be the difference between SGI-1 notification and a full application. The DNO application checker tells you whether a job is G98 or G99 from the postcode, the capacity and what is already installed at the property, which matters because existing generation counts towards the totals.
DNOs publish their own Fast Track guidance, and it is worth reading the page for your network before you apply: National Grid Electricity Distribution, SSEN and Electricity North West all describe the same three categories.
SGI-1 is a notification only, on Form A3-3. It behaves like a G98 notification: you tell the DNO about the installation rather than asking permission. SGI-2 and SGI-3 are applications, on Form A1-2, and the difference from SGI-1 matters: you cannot connect until the DNO confirms its assessment is complete.
For an SGI-2 or SGI-3 application you will need:
The online portals are quick for an initial application and give instant acknowledgement. Most networks also take the forms by email, but that is the slow version of the same process, and the DNO's response window starts when it has everything, not when you sent it.
SSEN states it aims to respond to Fast Track applications within 10 working days, and National Grid Electricity Distribution says you will hear back within 10 working days with the next steps. That is the working pattern across the networks, and it is the number to plan installation dates around rather than the 45 working day target that applies to a full G99 application.
What follows approval has its own clock. Once the DNO confirms the assessment, the installer typically has three months to install and commission the generation. The commissioning confirmation, Form A3-2, then goes back to the DNO within 28 days of commissioning, the same notification deadline the G98 route carries. EREC G99 expects the planned commissioning date on the application to fall between 10 working days and three months from submission, so apply when the install date is real.
Fees are worth checking with your own DNO before you quote, because Fast Track charging varies by network.
The route is quicker, but the failure modes are the same ones that stall full applications, just on a shorter clock:
Inverter rating mismatches. The power rating on the type test certificate has to match the power rating on the schematic. When they differ, the application stops while the DNO asks which inverter is actually being installed, and nothing moves until the answer lands. The ENA Type Test Register is the reference to check against, not the manufacturer datasheet.
G100 details that are not really details. An SGI-2 or SGI-3 application that needs an export limitation scheme has to specify the scheme, not state that one exists. The category tables name the export limit the DNO expects, and where the network cannot accept full export the application has to describe a compliant G100 export limitation scheme with its agreed limit.
Existing generation that was never mentioned. The totals in the category table cover everything at the property. A previous solar install that is not on the application changes the total registered capacity, which can change the category, which can change the route from a 10 working day assessment to something much slower.
A request for further information is the usual shape a stalled Fast Track application takes rather than an outright rejection, and a complete answer is what gets it moving again. How to handle a "further information required" response covers what to send back.
One Fast Track application is a form. Twenty live at once, across three or four DNO territories, each with its own portal, its own response window and its own three month expiry, is a tracking problem. Because each application is only worth 10 working days when it is watched, the cost of losing track is that the quick route silently becomes the slow one. A works required response can still land on a Fast Track job where the local network needs work, which adds a quote and a decision that someone has to see.
Keeping the application, the approval, the commissioning notification and the commissioning evidence in the same record as the job itself is what stops the three month window closing unnoticed. Payaca's DNO workflow handles G98 and G99 applications through ENA Connect inside the project, with the commissioning notification submitted from the same record so nothing is typed in twice. If the volume is the problem rather than the process, what software solar businesses actually use is worth a read, and the MCS commissioning requirements that run alongside the DNO notification are covered separately.
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