The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has been tasked with building Britain’s first ever strategic spatial energy plan (SSEP).
Through a more strategic approach, the hope is this blueprint will provide crucial long-term certainty and stability for investors and accelerate the growth of the UK’s clean energy industries, speeding up the transition away from fossil fuels and Britain’s mission to becoming a clean energy superpower.
NESO will assess optimal locations, quantities and types of energy infrastructure that are necessary to deliver on future energy demand, aided by economic, environmental and technical engineering design input, as well as considerable engagement with societal, expert and political stakeholders.
This wide-angle lens approach will look at how best to spread new energy projects across the country in a way that considers other sectors, including transport and water, while also taking into account the environment. Through this, delivery times could be sped up, with system costs coming down.
This work is set to lead to a first iteration of the plan being published in 2026, focusing on electricity generation and storage, including hydrogen assets. NESO will build several options for how the energy system could look in future, with this presented to ministers, before an option is selected and that is taken forward to public consultation.
Kayte O’Neill, Chief Operating Officer at NESO, said: “By setting out pathway options, engaging across government, the regulator, wider industry, interested parties and with communities as well as exploring the needs at a more zonal and regional level we can then identify where and what type of electricity and storage technologies we need to meet our future demand and decarbonisation ambitions.”
