‘A day marked by reflection, bold ambition, and a shared sense of purpose’

The event provided a great platform to share insights into our system’s legacy, celebrate recent milestones, and discuss our future plans as we deliver a network for net-zero.

As the custodian of our business’s power systems analysis capabilities, I was immediately put at ease by the panel chair’s opening remark about “embracing the unashamedly nerdy.”

While I suspect this was aimed at the policy and reform discussions ahead, I took it as full permission to dive deep into system planning references.

It was a day marked by reflection, bold ambition, and a shared sense of purpose as we collectively navigate the complexities of the energy transition. One message stood out clearly –the Highlands and Islands are not merely a backdrop for green energy, they are central to its success.

For SSEN Transmission, this is evident in the scale of investment already delivered in the region, including the Caithness-Moray-Shetland HVDC link. Looking ahead, major projects such as the Spittal–Peterhead HVDC and the onshore 400kV reinforcements are progressing as part of our Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) plan.

Christianna Logan, SSEN Transmission’s director of customers and stakeholders, joined the morning panel discussion Progress & Achievements in Green Energy in the Highlands. She highlighted SSEN Transmission’s recent milestones in the region, including the energisation of the Shetland Link, enabling the connection of the high-yielding Viking Wind Farm.

Christianna also spoke about our new strategic spares warehouse at Dalcross, and the deployment of innovative technologies such as mobile substations and dynamic line rating.

We also heard from Sumitomo on their investments at Nigg and their commitment to local supply chains, the Scottish National Investment Bank on the tension between ambition and certainty, the Highland Council on their social value charter and planning consents, and from Highlands and Islands Enterprise on the scale of opportunity.

During my panel, I shared how, as power systems engineers, we routinely engage with the legacy of past decisions, working with network models that include assets dating back more than half a century. On these foundations, we layer investment plans that shape the grid of the future.

This is not simply a suite of individual projects; it is the ongoing engineering of a power system that must be both technically robust and strategically transformative. Our work bridges generations of infrastructure, ensuring we develop a system that is deeply integrated with policy, people and place.

The scale and ambition for renewable energy in the region is now visible to all. When overlaid with SSEN Transmission’s ambitious investment plans to further strengthen the grid, it’s clear that the Highlands and Islands are exceptionally well positioned to play a leading role in helping the country meet its clean power targets.

Connections reform is often central to any discussion around grid capacity, and it was no exception during my panel session. The legacy “first-come, first-served” approach has led to the “contractual” sterilisation of both current and future system capacity, locking up grid access. Too often, this is interpreted as the system being at full capacity, implying that no renewable growth can be accommodated. But this blanket interpretation overlooks important system specific context and technical nuance.

We’re optimistic that the implementation of connections reform and queue management will shift the model to a “First Ready and Needed, First Connected” approach. This will not only increase the effective utilisation of the system but also provide clearer signals for targeted regional investment.

I communicated that we are now entering the implementation phase of Connections Reform and preparing to re-assess and re-issue connection offers in line with the newly formed National Energy System Operator’s queues structured around the protections, project readiness, and strategic alignment criteria.

The Strategic Spatial Energy Plan will also play a pivotal role in identifying and co-ordinating system need. We continue to work closely with the operator as we refine our insights and energy system modelling to inform our 2035 regional network plans.

As I left Inverness, I felt a heightened awareness of just how interconnected our work across technologies, geographies, and communities has become with an increased sense of urgency and importance of cumulative decisions.

System Planning may be a niche corner of the energy world, but it’s where policy and the power system converge. It’s where we learn to navigate uncertainty and chart a course forward.