Six pathways, one decision, it’s time to move on the SSEP 

Britain is about to decide where its future energy system will be built. The Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) will guide where new generation and storage go for decades to come and importantly, will also guide the Centralised Strategic Network Plan about where we need to build the grid today, for the future.

In doing so, it will shape the system’s resilience, security and the energy bills of every household and business. The decisions at hand are crucial and demand both timely and considered input. 

The road to consultation 

In late August, the National Energy System Operator (NESO) submitted six possible SSEP pathways to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Scottish and Welsh Governments. What happens next will determine how investment flows into postcodes across Great Britain. 

NESO has committed to consult by the end of March 2027. It needs around three months to reflect the Secretary of State’s choice and launch a comprehensive public consultation. That means the Secretary of State, working with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, needs to choose a pathway by the end of this year. 

Our message is simple: be decisive. Reform of transmission network charges, connections reform, grid build and the wider Reformed National Pricing (RNP) programme depend on the SSEP. Every month of delay is a month in which investment waits, supply chains remain uncertain and the opportunity to solidify economic growth slips.

These reforms are good for consumers and good for the economy, and progress relies on timely decision-making. 

Flexible enough for the market 

Decisive does not mean rigid and the SSEP should be a compass, not a blueprint. Over its lifetime, technologies will mature, costs will fall and demand will shift in ways no model can fully anticipate. A plan that sets a clear direction while leaving room for the market to respond will outlast one that tries to fix every outcome in advance.

Competition and innovation are how the best projects come forward and the SSEP must make space for both. We expect the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to set out how that flexibility will be built in, later this year through an update to the RNP programme. 

One essential safeguard that must be included is that no project should be refused planning permission simply because it sits outside the plan’s indicative locations or volumes. The SSEP should guide decisions, not gatekeep them. 

A consultation that means something 

Industry will be asked to turn this plan into projects on the ground, yet its role in shaping the pathways to date has been limited. Plans drawn up without those who must deliver them tend to look compelling on paper and struggle in practice. RES has been developing, building and operating renewable energy projects for over 40 years. Industry’s experience of supply chains, consenting and build programmes is exactly what will make the SSEP credible. 

That is why the forthcoming consultation matters. NESO plans a statutory consultation on the draft plan, with wider views welcomed. That is a welcome start, but a plan of this scale deserves more. A consultation that means something should publish the evidence, assumptions and modelling behind all six pathways, not only the one chosen, and give those who will deliver the plan, alongside other stakeholders, a genuine opportunity to influence the outcome. 

RES and the wider industry want what government wants: a secure, affordable energy system for every household and business. By sharing the evidence openly and working together, we can shape an SSEP that delivers it and carries the confidence of everyone who will help build it.  

Kate Dooley, Senior Policy & Regulatory Affairs Manager at RES 

This opinion piece originally appeared online in Utility Week on 10 November 2026