> "At the turn of the century a couple of power plants a year might be connected ... new plants often using the same connections as old ones."
It's still generally true that the old grid infrastructure is re-used.
The UK has many closed coal, oil, gas, and nuclear power plants on or near the coast. When those plants are decommissioned or demolished, the grid infrastructure that was built for them (substations, transmission lines) is usually left intact.
New off-shore wind farms can now use those access points, which greatly reduces the cost of connection compared to having to build everything from scratch.
It's still generally true that the old grid infrastructure is re-used.
The UK has many closed coal, oil, gas, and nuclear power plants on or near the coast. When those plants are decommissioned or demolished, the grid infrastructure that was built for them (substations, transmission lines) is usually left intact.
New off-shore wind farms can now use those access points, which greatly reduces the cost of connection compared to having to build everything from scratch.