This paper contributes to an emerging literature focused on cities and regions as strategic sites for systemic sustainability transformation processes. We analyse how aspiration and ambition for transformation of the energy system in the Paris-Ile-de-France region of France translates more vividly into the transversal strategic spatial planning policy arena than in the energy policy sector. The intensity of inter-actor tensions here suggests that these are key contested issues for future orientations of energy systems on any level. Some of the contradictions and competing viewpoints around energy-concerned planning issues are discussed. It is argued that this highlights the importance of understanding the socio-political geographies of systemic change. We suggest that thinking through the multiple spatio-temporal rhythms of transitions could be a useful way of pushing research and policies towards more explicit, sympathetic and political engagement with the socio-spatial differentiations and inequalities inherent to place-based transformations.