Unlocking immediate opportunities in integrated energy planning

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) recently launched a consultation on its draft Centralised Strategic Network Plan (CSNP) Guidance document, which outlines requirements for the CSNP methodology and the plan itself.

Specialists from SLR’s Energy Advisory global team share their perspective on the CSNP which combines electricity, gas, and hydrogen planning as an integrated whole for the first time in history. Our team share their five key takeaways from our consultation response to NESO’s CSNP. These insights highlight where incremental improvements can make a material difference across the key vectors that NESO has been consulting on.

Introduction

Great Britain (GB) is entering a critical phase in the transformation of its energy system - one that requires not just bold ambition, but practical, coordinated execution. The launch of the CSNP marks a significant milestone: for the first time, GB is pursuing integrated infrastructure planning across electricity, gas, and hydrogen.

Real progress will depend on rethinking where industrial and digital demand is located, and on implementing a series of targeted, low-regret interventions that deliver value today while laying the foundation for tomorrow’s energy system. Our perspectives are summarised across four key areas.

Framing the challenge

Great Britain faces a classic northern hemisphere energy dilemma: abundant renewable resources in the north, but demand concentrated in the south. This geographic mismatch places strain on an electricity grid that was not designed for intermittent renewables and long-distance transmission.

Other northern hemisphere countries that have similar challenges include Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea, and the USA. In 2024, for example, the Scottish Seagreen 1A project was curtailed 71% of the time due to grid constraints costing the consumer £65million in curtailment fees.

Looking ahead, ScotWind is set to deliver 32.3GW of offshore wind capacity from the 2030s. Yet current Scottish peak demand is just over 4GW1 and even with electrification of heat and transport doubling to 10-11GW2 according to NESO, it remains far below the expected renewable generation, highlighting the urgent need for strategic planning and investment in grid infrastructure. But this is just the start of the story, NESO predicts generation in Scotland of circa 80GW, largely made up of renewables, and with 10GW Scottish electrified demand at around 2050 this is a HUGE surplus of 70GW. That is the challenge we need to solve as well as the brittle Westinghouse AC grid that was designed for thermal generation in the 20th century, not intermittent renewables in the 21st century and beyond.

How we can support you

At SLR, our Energy Advisory team has deep multi-vector capability in electricity, gas and hydrogen, and can model their holistic behaviour to provide market insights and inform commercial decision making. We help accelerate financial investment decisions for our clients at a portfolio and asset level and we would be pleased to talk to you about your energy strategy and decarbonisation roadmap.

References

[1] https://www.neso.energy/publications/electricity-ten-year-statement-etys/electricity-transmission-network-requirements/scottish-boundaries

[2] https://www.neso.energy/document/364541/download