Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has outlined delivery plans for a major new net zero network development.

In a major step this, SSEN has published a consultation on the methodology and engagement for how they're devising and developing these proposals. This coincides with the opening of the second area-specific consultation, for the Fawley Grid Supply Point, which connects the New Forest area and the Isle of Wight.

Over the course of the next year, SSEN will publish a whole series of these Strategic Development Plans, or SDPs, for their licence areas. Much of the expected huge growth in demand on their distribution networks is going to come from domestic and business customers as they use and generate more and more clean electricity, so the task of ensuring new and upgraded electricity distribution infrastructure is designed to meet predicted demand is fundamental.

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These Strategic Development Plans will bridge the gap between projections for future demand and generation growth between now and 2050, and the required specific network investment and flexibility options which will help meet this need.

Each SDP, once it's published, will be open for your feedback to inform the plans, which we'll then work to deliver.

These SDPs will be reviewed on an annual basis as projections are updated and your views are factored in. Insights from SSEN's own Distribution Future Energy Scenarios, which project future energy demand locally, will also have an influence. These scenarios indicate where and when constraints are likely to arise; the plans will present this spatially, giving a full view of network capacity.

Andrew Wainwright, Whole System Team Manager at SSEN Distribution said: "We're at the heart of the journey to net zero, and the people we're on this journey with have been telling us about their future energy needs. We're taking these predictions, using them to model projections of future growth, and building our plans around them.

"Our Strategic Development Plans will act as a blueprint for an electricity system that's smart, fair, and fit for net zero. These will be living plans, and we'll be canvassing our stakeholders for feedback, so their insights can shape our plans for the better."