NESO sets out Operability and Markets update

NESO has today (30 March 2026) published its annual Operability Strategy Report and Electricity Markets Roadmap – a pair of reports that set out how the system operator will run a clean, secure and affordable electricity system to enable Clean Power by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050. 

This year’s Operability Strategy Report outlines the opportunities and challenges of operating a clean power grid and the work already underway to deliver the transition. It sets out how NESO will deliver this transition while simultaneously maintaining Great Britain’s world-leading energy resilience and delivering cost savings for billpayers. 

It demonstrates that NESO’s work since 2019 to reconfigure how it operates Great Britain’s electricity network has laid the groundwork to support the delivery of clean power by 2030. In 2025 GB saw a new record of clean power generation, reaching a peak of 97.7% of energy needs.

New services from NESO have also demonstrated the importance of exploring and delivering new innovative solutions. In particular, NESO’s fast acting, low-cost frequency service Dynamic Containment demonstrated its value to consumers in 2025 by keeping the network running smoothly and eliminating disruption in response to three simultaneous power station faults.

Projects and programmes across NESO and the wider industry are important to allow us to operate the electricity system more effectively as it decarbonises. This includes measures outlined in the Electricity Markets Roadmap such as the stability pathfinder delivery, intertrip programmes, reserve product markets, and changes to minimum inertia requirements.

This year’s market roadmap also recognises the importance of facilitating demand side flexibility, to reward businesses and consumers to reduce or increase their electricity at certain times, to help the network respond to changes in renewable generation and prices. 

With increasing periods where more than half of GB’s energy demand is met by distributed and consumer energy resources, such as small-scale wind farms, batteries, and rooftop solar panels, there is a greater need for NESO to have improved operational visibility and access to these energy resources. 

Today, NESO has also published a Visibility and Access Roadmap for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and Consumer Energy Resources (CERs), which it will consult on until 30 April 2026. 

NESO will collaborate with industry partners directly and through the consultation to ensure solutions are practical and effective.

Rebecca Beresford, Director of Markets, NESO: 

“Ensuring that our future energy system continues our world leading levels of resilience, whilst delivering value for consumers, is as critical to the success of the energy transition as reducing our carbon output. That’s why it's so important for our markets to facilitate this change and to encourage new and innovative solutions to play their role in supporting our future energy system.”

Julian Leslie, Director Strategic Energy Planning Director and Chief Engineer

“Delivering Clean Power by 2030 is a Herculean task for all across the industry and will change how we think and operate the GB electricity system. We are making major progress on the solutions Britain will need to operate a secure, efficient, fully decarbonised system. Today’s reports set out the immense progress we have made to date and the next steps – from new operability services to future energy markets – that will be needed for our future energy system.”