Goverment, NESO, Ofgem publish Clean Flexibility Roadmap Update

One year after the publication of the Clean Flexibility Roadmap last July (2025), which set out a plan for how to achieve the flexibility required to deliver clean power by 2030 and net zero by 2050, NESO, Ofgem, and DESNZ have now released a progress update.

This spans four areas: consumer-led flexibility (CLF) and markets, grid-scale electricity storage, interconnection, and low-carbon dispatchable power. Each area is broken down into A) key achievements and progress since the 2025 Roadmap and B) new actions going forward.

Consumer-led flexibility and markets

CLF is viewed as the most complex area within the Roadmap, given it involves millions of distributed assets and is dependent on such a broad range of factors. Underpinned by the primary outcome of scaling flexibility potential to benefit both consumers and the electricity system, CLF has been divided into three distinct themes: markets, consumer experience, and policy and regulatory incentives. The metrics used to measure success are A) the volume of CLF (GWh) used across all markets in the last quarter and B) available and procured CLF capacity.

For markets, progress includes the migration of more than 11.3 million smart meters to half-hourly settlement, the publication of the Reformed National Pricing Delivery Plan which sets the long-term direction for the wholesale market and balancing reforms, and a trial to removing Final Consumption Levies for demand turn up – starting in winter 2026.

For consumer experience, progress includes delivery of the Smart Secure Electricity Systems (SSES) Programme via Elexon’s governance groups and NESO’s 2030 target for 750MW industrial and commercial (I&C) flexibility to be available through its markets – with the year-one target of 170MW having been met.

For policy and regulatory incentives, progress includes the publication of the Warm Homes Plan, Energy Performance Certificates reforms, £1.1bn of funding for low-carbon heat networks, and Ofgem’s Sector Specific Methodology Decision (SSMD) for RIIO-ED3 which promotes a balanced ‘build and flex’ approach.

Grid-scale electricity storage

The update notes that both grid-scale batteries (up to eight hours) and long duration electricity storage (LDES) are vital in providing flexibility services to the electricity grid. Obvious metrics to measure success include the capacity (GW/GWh) of both technologies, as well as storage skip rates and the incidence rate of fires.

Progress includes 7.3GW of grid-scale batteries and 2.8GW of LDES by June 2026, reductions in battery skip rates, and in incidence rate of fires at 0.7 over five years to 24/25 vs 0.8 for non-domestic buildings in general.

Interconnection

The key deliverables for interconnection as a source of inter-country flexibility are securing 12-14GW of interconnection capacity by 2030, building a healthy post-2030 pipeline of strategically aligned projects, delivering a multi-purpose interconnector (MPI), and increasing both cross-border collaboration and energy security.

Progress includes the publication of Next Steps for Electricity Interconnection in Great Britain, the start of negotiations between the UK and the European Commission on UK participation in the EU Internal Electricity Market, and early industry engagement to unblock barriers to MPI delivery.

Low-carbon dispatchable power

The two priority technologies for low-carbon dispatchable power are hydrogen to power (H2P) and power carbon capture and storage (power CCUS). The former is seen as vital to displacing unabated gas, while the latter is intended to complement duration-limited technologies such as batteries by generating continuously over weeks.

Progress on the two technologies includes Government committing to introducing secondary legislation to exempt hydrogen supply to premises from supplier licensing requirements and developing a new hydrogen network code, progressing development expenditure decisions for Acorn and Viking clusters, and launching the East Coast Cluster (Teesside) expansion process.

techUK view

Updates such as this are a vital accountability tool that serve to measure success and ensure transparency. It is particularly pleasing to see so much progress has been made on battery storage deployment and emerging technologies, alongside proposals to remove levies for vehicle-to-grid charging, which is a vital new source of flexible consumption. Furthermore, the Energy Digitalisation Framework is accurately depicted as a significant enabler, as, if approached in the right way; it should facilitate the data sharing that is vital to accelerating flexibility.

The Roadmap identifies a broad range of flexibility sources and techUK would urge Government, NESO, and Ofgem to approach procurement from a system-wide perspective. It is vital to first identify which flexibility services are required before procuring them in competitive, cost-effective way that adequately remunerates providers. Flexibility options for industrial consumers such as data centres must remain voluntary and incentivised, otherwise there could be significant economic and environmental costs. We look forward to continuing to work with key stakeholders on the matter of flexibility within demand connections reform.

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