Team sat around a table having a meeting

European engagement

NESO’s ongoing work with European political and industry stakeholders
A formal group photo of Offshore TSO Collaboration (OTC Group) members standing in front of a modern building entrance. The group consists of individuals dressed in professional business attire, including suits and ties, arranged in two rows.

Offshore TSO Collaboration (OTC Group)

Since 2024, NESO is a member of the OTC, a group of European Transmission System Operators (TSOs) from countries bordering the North Sea, formed in 2022 to develop a joint offshore grid for green energy, supporting Europe's energy independence by coordinating offshore wind, hybrid interconnectors, and hydrogen infrastructure.

As the lead interlocutor for GB licensed transmission operators within the OTC, we have been active in supporting the work of the group, in particular promoting Great Britian’s strategic spatial energy planning (SSEP) work and the relevance this has for planning future offshore energy capacity in the North Sea.

The OTC has published several position papers which NESO endorses, including:

Cathy Fraser at the Renewables Grid Initiative (RGI) A panel discussion is taking place in a modern conference room with 6 seated speakers on stage.

Renewables Grid Initiative (RGI)

In 2025 NESO became a member of RGI, a non-profit organisation that brings European grid operators and civil society organisations together to promote fair grid development that enables a decarbonised energy system. More about our membership of RGI can be found here.

As part of our work with RGI, we were delighted to help organise RGI’s annual conference, together with the RSPB and the Portuguese system operator REN. ‘The Big Switch: Achieving 100% Decarbonised Power in Europe’, which took place on 18 September 2025 in Brussels, featured interventions from our CEO Fintan Slye  that stressed NESO’s role in securing our energy system, promoting economic growth and delivering consumer value for customers.

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ENTSO-E

As part of our mission to bolster electricity security in Great Britain and cooperation with Europe, NESO and UK Transmission Owners finalised a new working agreement in 2025 with the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E). 

ENTSO-E is an association representing 40 electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) from 36 countries across Europe. It manages the Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA), which is one of the largest synchronous electrical grids in the world, primarily operating in Europe, supplying over 400 million customers in 32 countries.

Following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in 2020, the GB system operator was unable to remain a participating members of ENTSO-E. This new working agreement gives us an opportunity to collaborate with European TSOs on key areas like electricity security for Great Britain, expanding clean offshore energy planning, and the efficient use of electricity interconnectors, through working group sessions and high-level meetings between NESO and ENTSO-E senior leaders.

More on the relationship

Both ENTSO-E members and UK TSOs worked on providing answers to a set of technical questions to the European Commission and the UK Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero on the proposed trading solution Multi-Region Loose Volume Coupling (MRLVC). The UK-EU Trade and Corporation Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland agreed to explore MRLVC as a potential coupling solution between the GB electricity market and the EU electricity market.

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