Grids are crucial to make Europe more competitive and energy secure  

The European Commission has unveiled an EU Grids Package, a set of legislative and policy measures to modernise and expand Europe’s electricity grids. The Package is a crucial step to make energy more affordable and secure for households and industry. It addresses long-standing bottlenecks in grid development. It proposes new rules for grid planning and permitting. And it sets out a vision for a more integrated, resilient, and future-proof energy system – based on high shares of wind. 

Today the European Commission presented an EU Grids Package. It aims to boost investment in Europe’s grid infrastructure, strengthen interconnectivity, and support the EU’s energy security and competitiveness goals.  

Grids are the biggest bottleneck to new wind energy projects. Europe needs to invest €584bn by 2030 to upgrade its grid infrastructure. But grid investment has long fallen short.  

This underinvestment leads to curtailed renewable electricity and higher energy bills. It undermines Europe’s energy security. WindEurope’s latest study shows that a renewables-based energy system will save Europe up to €1.6tn, as compared to four alternative energy system scenarios, even when you factor in grids and system integration costs.    

“Grids are vital to Europe’s energy security and competitiveness. A renewables-based energy system will be much cheaper for Europe – even when you factor in the additional costs for grids, storage, and electrification. But you can’t have more renewable electricity without more grids. The EU Grids Package will enable faster permitting, better planning and increased investment certainty”, says Giles Dickson, WindEurope CEO. 

What it means for wind 

Today wind energy is 20% of all electricity consumed in Europe. It will be 34% by 2030 and more than 50% by 2050. But Europe is not building enough new wind. Around 500 GW of wind energy projects are currently waiting for grid connection permits. The system is clogged up; authorities are overloaded. 

To resolve this issue, the EU Grids Package recommends a shift from today’s “first come, first serve” principle to “first ready, first serve”, including new filtering criteria and project milestones. This new approach will help prioritise viable projects and filter out speculative “zombie projects”. This increases the visibility for permitting authorities and allows viable projects to move forward faster.  

“We have entered a new age of electricity”, Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera explained, presenting the Package. Europe is set to ramp up the share of electricity in its total energy consumption, from below 25% today to 50% by 2040. This requires a totally different approach to grid planning.  

The Package proposes better top-down grid planning.  The Commission will take on a bigger role: it will create a forward-looking scenario for Europe’s Ten-Year Development Plan (TYNDP), in line with the EU’s 2040 and 2050 objectives. Europe’s transmission system operators will then base their planning on this new scenario.  A new “infrastructure needs identification report”, drafted by ENTSO-E will identify present and future gaps and investment needs. 

The Package will ensure grid investments mobilise both public and private finance. On the public side, the EU is scaling up its support for energy infrastructure in the next EU budget, including with a 5-fold increase in the Connecting Europe Facility. On the private side, the EU will launch a new Clean Energy Investment Strategy in 2026. It will propose concrete private sector actions, including from institutional investors, as well as support from the European Investment Bank (EIB). 

The Package also aims to scale up Europe’s grid equipment supply chain. It proposes the establishment of a new platform for EU distribution network planning to track distribution grid related-manufacturing needs. Next year’s revision of the Public Procurement Directives will further strengthen Europe’s manufacturing base for grids technologies “made in Europe”. 

Finally, the Package recognises offshore grids as a new priority. It contains new initiatives and rules around cross-border grid planning and cost-sharing. Next to that, the Package proposes new “Energy Highways”, key grid projects, such as cross-border interconnectors and offshore hubs. 

Accelerating permitting  

The Package tables a permitting acceleration directive which will involve tweaking various directives, including the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the Electricity Market Design Directive (EMD). The targeted Commission proposal contains important improvements, for example on the permitting of repowered wind farms, storage units and hybrid power plants.  

“The Grids Package proposes a targeted and well-balanced revision of existing permitting rules. Good. But well-intended attempts to accelerate permitting must not end up undermining investment security. And they must not undermine public acceptance either.  Stick to the sensible and targeted measures proposed by the Commission.  And otherwise focus on implementing the Renewables Directive rules that are not being tweaked,” says Giles Dickson.  

The Package includes further improvements to permitting, such as the option to introduce “positive silence” to speed up permitting decisions, a toolbox for public inclusion, and the application of “overriding public interest” to Projects of Common Interest (PCIs). 

The Package asks Member States to establish a single digital portal at national level for all the steps of the permitting procedures for renewable energy, storage and grid projects. All document submissions and communication between project developers and authorities would take place on the portal. This marks a breakthrough in the digitalisation of permitting and could make paper-based applications obsolete.  

Next steps 

Electricity grids are the backbone of our energy system. They connect countries and allow electricity to be transported to where it is needed. The EU Grids Package sets out a clear vision for a modern, integrated, and resilient grid infrastructure that can deliver on the EU’s energy security and competitiveness goals.  

Many elements of the Grids Package come in the form of recommendations to Member States. National implementation will be crucial. WindEurope stands ready to work with EU Member States and industry partners to make Europe’s grids fit for a future energy system based on high shares of wind energy.