ESO permitted to delay release of strategic network plan

Ofgem has permitted the Electricity System Operator (ESO) to delay the release of multiple documents that will form part of its second transitional Centralised Strategic Network Plan.

The ESO requested the deferral to give it time to go over the plan with the government and transmission owners and make changes based on their feedback.

The need for a Centralised Strategic Network Plan (CSNP) was identified by Ofgem during its joint Offshore Transmission Network Review with government. In November 2022, the regulator confirmed that the first full iteration of the plan should be published by the ESO’s successor, the Future System Operator, in 2024/25.

As part of the review, the ESO published a Holistic Network Design (HND) in July 2022 setting out an integrated design for the transmission network necessary to achieve the government’s target of deploying 50GW of offshore wind by 2030. Alongside the HND, the ESO also published an extra refresh of its Networks Options Assessment (NOA) setting out the recommended grid upgrades that should be undertaken over the following year. Together these formed the first transitional CSNP.

The second transitional CSNP will comprise the ESO’s HND Follow-up Exercise (HND FUE) along with the latest NOA and technical appendices for the latest Electricity Ten Year Statement (ETYS). Under its standard licence conditions, each year the ESO must publish an updated NOA and ETYS by the end of January and November respectively.

In November 2022, Ofgem approved a request by the ESO to postpone the publication deadline for the 2022/23 NOA by 11 months to December 2023. In August of this year, the regulator also approved a request by the ESO to delay the release of the technical appendices for the 2023 ETYS – usually issued alongside the core document in November – to December 2023 to align the publication deadline with that of the NOA.

In September, the ESO submitted another request to Ofgem to further postpone these deadlines to 31 March 2024.

The ESO gave two reasons for doing so, firstly that the HNDFUE recommendations were produced later than was originally envisioned when the deadlines were initially deferred to December 2023.  The HNDFUE was intended to be completed by March but it was not finished until July.

The body said it also needs more time to set up new governance forums to review the second transitional CSNP (TCSNP), in particular with transmission owners (TOs). These include:

• ESO/TO Electricity Infrastructure Planning Forum
• TCSNP Committee
• Electricity Infrastructure Plan Advisory Forum

Ofgem said these forums are expected to conclude by late-January and the additional time beyond this date will allow the ESO to make changes based on the feedback it receives.

The ESO also intends to consult on the plan with government ministers across England, Wales and Scotland.

Following any revisions, the ESO expects to publish the second TCSNP in February but has requested a deadline of 31 March to provide a contingency period in case there is a short delay.

Making its case to Ofgem, the ESO said: “We believe that the proposed change of date is in the overall interest of consumers, to ensure we have a fully developed, supported plan for the future network. We do not believe that the delay will have any material impact on security of supply, competition, sustainable development, or other party’s non-compliance.”

Ofgem agreed that the benefits of postponing the deadlines outweigh the downsides and has therefore approved the deferral.