AI for Great Britain's grid constraints

Put Scotland's stranded wind to work.

In 2025, Great Britain spent £1.47bn paying wind farms to switch off and gas plants to fill the gap.1 Nodal Shift is building AI software that turns that waste into value, on both sides of the bottleneck.

Join the waitlist How it works
How a grid constraint wastes Scottish wind power Wind farms in Scotland send power south towards demand in England, but it all has to cross the B6 boundary, which can only carry a limited amount. When the boundary is full, some wind farms are paid to switch off. A Turn-Up site north of the boundary uses that power locally instead. SCOTLAND ENGLAND Switched off Turn-Up site B6 boundary
  • Wind farms generating
  • Wind farm paid to switch off
  • B6 boundary, where transfer capacity runs out
  • Turn-Up site using the spare power locally
  • Demand in England

What is wind curtailment?

Wind curtailment is when the grid operator pays wind farms to reduce their output because the transmission network can't carry all of their power to where it's needed. In Great Britain, most curtailment happens in Scotland, where wind capacity has grown faster than the cables that carry power south to homes and businesses in England.2

Read our guide to wind curtailment in the UK

The cost of a congested grid

  • £1.47bn

    paid in 2025 to switch wind farms off and run gas plants instead 1

  • £1.5bn+

    spent in 2026 with three months of the year still to go 1

  • 71%

    of Great Britain's balancing costs in 2024/25 went on managing transmission constraints 2

Two products, one bottleneck

Curtailment has two sides: generators in the north that are told to switch off, and energy users who could have used that power. We're building for both.

  • For flexible energy users

    Nodal Shift Turn-Up

    Get paid to move flexible demand into the hours when Scottish wind would otherwise be switched off. Turn-Up will forecast constraints and shift your load within the limits you set.

    Explore Turn-Up

  • For independent generators

    Nodal Shift Bid Copilot

    Forecast curtailment, price your Balancing Mechanism bids with confidence and find better routes for constrained output, without building a trading desk.

    Explore Bid Copilot

How Nodal Shift works

Nodal Shift is in development. Here's how the platform is designed to work.

  1. Forecast

    We combine weather forecasts, network data and market data from NESO and Elexon to predict when and where constraints will happen, from a day ahead to within the hour.

  2. Optimise

    Our models choose the best response: when a flexible site should use more power, or how a generator should price its bids in the Balancing Mechanism and local flexibility markets.

  3. Settle

    Every action is measured against a clear baseline, so you can see what was shifted, what was earned and how our fee was calculated.

Why now?

Three changes since late 2024 make this possible. NESO's Demand Flexibility Service now pays for demand turn-up, its Local Constraint Market buys flexibility behind the Scottish boundaries, and independent aggregators can trade flexibility in the wholesale market. Meanwhile, the cost of grid constraints keeps rising.

  • Demand turn-up is now a paid service. Since April 2026, NESO's Demand Flexibility Service buys demand turn-up as well as turn-down, and accepts sites from 0.1 MW.3
  • Local markets for constrained areas. NESO's Local Constraint Market buys extra demand from sites behind the Scottish boundaries, both a day ahead and within the day.4
  • Open access for aggregators. Since November 2024, Virtual Lead Parties can trade flexibility in the wholesale market, not just the Balancing Mechanism.5
  • National pricing is staying. In July 2025 the government decided against zonal pricing, so constraints will keep being managed through balancing and flexibility markets.6
  • The bill keeps growing. The government has warned that the cost could reach £10bn by 2030.1

Our approach

  • Your limits come first

    Sites set the temperatures, charge levels and schedules that matter. Generators set price floors and volumes. Our software will work inside those limits, and you'll be able to override it at any time.

  • Paid for performance

    We plan to earn a share of the value we create, measured against an agreed baseline. If we don't create value for you, you won't pay a performance fee.

  • Built on open data

    Our forecasts start from Great Britain's public energy data, so results can be checked against the same records the market uses.

Our data sources include Elexon's Insights Solution7 and the NESO Data Portal.8

Understand the market

Plain-English guides to the markets behind curtailment, with sources.

  • Wind curtailment in the UK, explained

    Why Great Britain pays wind farms to switch off, what it costs, where it happens and what could reduce it.

    Read the curtailment guide

  • Demand turn-up in Great Britain, explained

    What demand turn-up is, which NESO services pay for it, which sites can take part and how payments work.

    Read the demand turn-up guide

  • Balancing Mechanism bids and offers, explained

    How bids, offers and acceptances work in the Balancing Mechanism, and why they matter for constrained generators.

    Read the Balancing Mechanism guide

Frequently asked questions

What is Nodal Shift?

Nodal Shift is a UK start-up building AI software for Great Britain's grid constraints. We're developing two products: Nodal Shift Turn-Up, which will help flexible energy users get paid to use power that would otherwise be curtailed, and Nodal Shift Bid Copilot, which will help independent generators forecast curtailment and price their Balancing Mechanism bids.

Can I use Nodal Shift today?

Not yet. Both products are in development. We're opening early access to a small number of sites and generators first. Join the waitlist and we'll contact you when places open.

Why does Great Britain pay wind farms to switch off?

Because the transmission network can't always carry Scotland's wind power south to where it's needed. When a boundary such as B6, between Scotland and England, is full, NESO pays wind farms behind it to reduce output and pays other generators, mostly gas plants, to make up the difference elsewhere.

Who is Turn-Up for?

Turn-Up is for businesses and public bodies with electricity demand they can move in time without affecting what they do. Good examples are cold stores, EV fleet depots, water and wastewater sites, distilleries and food producers, especially in Scotland.

Who is Bid Copilot for?

Bid Copilot is for owners and operators of independent wind, solar and battery sites, typically between 5 and 50 MW, who don't have an in-house trading desk. It will be most useful for sites behind congested parts of the network, such as the Scottish boundaries.

How much will it cost?

Joining the waitlist is free. We plan to charge performance-based fees: a share of the value we create for you, measured against an agreed baseline, with no upfront cost. We'll agree terms with each early-access partner before anything goes live.

What happens to my details if I join the waitlist?

We store your details securely in Cloudflare's EU data centres and use them only to contact you about early access, plus occasional updates if you ask for them. You can unsubscribe at any time from any email we send. Our privacy notice has the full details.

Join the waitlist

Tell us a little about you and we'll be in touch when early access opens. It takes about a minute.

What happens next

  1. Confirm your email address using the link we send you.
  2. We may get in touch to learn more about your site or portfolio. There's no obligation.
  3. When early-access places open, we'll contact you first.

All fields are required unless marked optional.

Which product are you interested in?

We'll send you a link to confirm your place.

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About your generation assets (optional)

We'll only use your details to contact you about early access (and updates, if you tick the box). You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy notice.

Sources

  1. Octopus Energy, Britain hits £1.5bn wasted wind bill three months earlier than in 2025, 5 October 2026. Checked 24 October 2026.
  2. Modo Energy, Curtailment and constraint costs in Great Britain and Scotland, 4 March 2026. Checked 24 October 2026.
  3. National Energy System Operator, Demand Flexibility Service (DFS), Web page. Checked 24 October 2026.
  4. National Energy System Operator, Local Constraint Market, Web page. Checked 24 October 2026.
  5. Elexon, Virtual Lead Parties to offer services in the wholesale electricity market, 6 October 2023. Checked 24 October 2026.
  6. SmartestEnergy, Government rules out zonal pricing in REMA update, July 2025. Checked 24 October 2026.
  7. Elexon, Insights Solution (Balancing Mechanism Reporting Service), Live data. Checked 24 October 2026.
  8. National Energy System Operator, NESO Data Portal, Live data. Checked 24 October 2026.