The Next European Torus (NET) is a tokamak machine intended as the next step in the European fusion programme beyond the JET machine. As such it must have the capability to produce ignited plasmas and drive them for periods of up to several hundred seconds.One of the most critical areas in the design of fusion machines of the next generation, with both physics and technological objectives, is the plasma engineering. In this report we will consider the following aspects of the NET plasma engineering: (i) plasma configuration during start-up, burn and shut down; (ii) plasma control (equilibrium and stability) during burn; (iii) poloidal field coil power supply requirements; (iv) effect of disruptions.The poloidal field coil circuit must be designed not only to provide plasma equilibrium for a reference plasma during the machine “burn” phase, but also to start-up and shut down the plasma in a controlled fashion, while keeping within the technological constraints (maximum current density, maximum field, rate of change of field, power and voltage) imposed by superconducting coils and power supplies.