Dr Grant Wilson has been appointed Independent Chair of the Gas Advisory Council for the National Energy System Operator
Dr Grant Wilson
Dr Grant Wilson, Co-Director at the Birmingham Energy Institute, has been appointed as the Independent Chair of the Gas Advisory Council for the National Energy System Operator (NESO). NESO launched in October 2024 as the publicly owned independent energy system operator for Great Britain that continues to operate and balance the electricity transmission network. NESO has also been tasked with overseeing the strategic planning and design of Britain’s electricity and gas network to help accelerate its clean energy transition.
The Gas Advisory Council is made up of experts from a wide range of industry organisations and trade bodies and was established earlier in 2025 to help inform NESO’s approach to strategic gas market design based on robust evidence, international best practice, and the needs of and impacts on wider industry.
The Birmingham Energy Institute brings together interdisciplinary research from across the University of Birmingham, and works closely with government, industry and international partners to solve societal issues and address challenges relating to energy poverty, the circular economy, transport systems, cooling, hydrogen, energy storage and the decarbonisation of heat.
Dr Wilson has been a Co-Director of the Birmingham Energy Institute (BEI) since March 2025, working alongside Dr Simon Blakey and Professor Xiao-Ping Zhang to support Professor Sara Walker as Director. Dr Wilson has considerable experience in the energy sector, with several projects highlighting the scale of energy delivery through gas and electrical networks, and the current importance of the gas sector to Britain’s energy security of supply and resilience.
“Throughout my career, I have increasingly advocated for the greater use of data and digitalisation to strengthen the evidence base for policy and decision making across the energy sector, and also to inform various audiences on Britain’s current energy transition. I look forward to the time when Britain is yet again a significant net energy exporter, but this time of low-carbon energy rather than fossil fuels. I am honoured to be the Independent Chair of the Gas Advisory Council."
Associate Professor
Grant Wilson, Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham
