This paper formulates the authentication planning problem when network coding is implemented in a wireless sensor network. The planning problem aims at minimizing the energy consumed by the security application which is guarantied using message authentication codes. This paper proposes a binary non-linear optimization formulation for this planning problem whose decision variables are the authentication decision of the nodes and the MAC modes of operation. It is illustrated for a butterfly topology. Results show that there is a real trade-off between energy efficiency and message throughput in this context.