The UK National Energy System Operator (NESO) has published a preliminary regional energy strategic plan for distribution network operators (DNOs) to use in their business plans for 2028-2033.
The publication of the Transitional Regional Energy Strategic Plan (tRESP) was described by Julian Leslie, director of strategic energy planning and chief engineer at NESO, as “a key moment in the implementation of strategic energy planning”.
NESO said it has spoken to 2,800 local stakeholders across three rounds of RESP forums since March 2025, making submissions to help NESO understand the strategically important energy needs in every region of Britain.
The tRESP, as the name suggests, is intended to facilitate the transition from the current way in which energy distribution networks plan their investments, to the new full RESP approach. proposed by Ofgem in 2024.
Previously, energy infrastructure companies, distribution system operators (DNOs) and gas networks made investment plans on a five-year cycle. This worked in a relatively stable system, but the acceleration to net zero, driven by the government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan (CP30), means regions and localities are making big changes at a rapid pace.
NESO will develop these plans every three years, with local data updated annually and signed off by an RESP board for each area. The regions are divided into the same groups as the relevant area for all six UK DNOs: Electricity North West, Northern Powergrid, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), SP Energy Networks, UK Power Networks and National Grid Electricity Distribution (formerly Western Power Distribution).
The RESPs will form part of future planning overseen by NESO, in addition to the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan And Centralized Strategic Network Plan. The aim is that the RESP will be bottom-up and represent the wants and needs of places within broader future planning.
Last year, Solar energy portal spoke to Poppy Maltby, associate director of non-profit energy transition technology and market consultancy Regen, about regional energy planning. That part goes in more details on RESPs and their impact on planning and investments.
Maltby explained that, in the future, “when private companies come up with a five-year business plan to indicate how much investment is needed, they will have to point to the RESP plan and say, yes, it is consistent with this broader ambition of the region being built by local democratic actors.”
