Europe’s Grids Package marks a positive shift to coordinated, EU-wide infrastructure planning and permitting
Brussels – Today, the European Commission unveiled the European Grids Package. As one of the core deliverables under the Clean Industrial Deal and the Action Plan for Affordable Energy, the Grids Package is a response to the urgent need for more coordinated and forward-looking grid governance, planning, and permitting, reflecting several of the key principles emphasised by CATF.
Key areas of the package
Union-level integrated network planning
The Commission is moving to a more integrated model for infrastructure planning, with stronger EU-level direction and better coordination across Member States. Updates to the trans-European energy infrastructure policy framework (TEN-E) will shift some planning roles and reinforce a consistent, EU-wide approach. CATF strongly welcomes the proposal to establish an energy system-wide cost–benefit method using harmonised, cross-sector methodologies for evaluating projects in the EU’s ten-year network development plan (TYNDP).
A central EU scenario for the ten-year network development plan
Given the many jurisdictional layers in electricity system planning, the lack of harmonisation in analysis and planning remains a key gap in Europe. CATF has repeatedly highlighted the need to align the inputs, scenarios, and sensitivities used in national and EU processes to support effective, EU-wide system planning. Today’s announcement assigns the Commission a new role: developing a central EU scenario for the electricity, hydrogen, and gas sectors within the next two years. This is a highly significant and welcome step towards using a consistent and common basis for the TYNDP, the process of identifying infrastructure needs, and the cross-border cost allocation of energy infrastructure projects. On top of the central EU scenario, the Commission is also putting forward an operating gap-filling mechanism to ensure that all identified needs are adequately addressed through project proposals.
“The central EU scenario is a crucial step because it gives the EU a single, consistent basis for assessing future electricity, hydrogen, and gas needs. It should use harmonised methodologies across the EU, be updated regularly and include transparent peer review so its assumptions can be tested and strengthened for each TYNDP cycle,” said Alejandra Muñoz Castañer, Senior Europe Affairs Manager at CATF.
A permitting regime at the EU level
Slow and complex permitting still accounts for about 25% of the total time needed for grid investments, delaying implementation. Until now, there was no comprehensive EU-level framework covering energy infrastructure and electricity grids as a whole. Instead, the regulatory landscape has been fragmented: sector-specific rules covering only certain assets such as cross-border, hydrogen, and gas infrastructure, while wider transmission and distribution infrastructure fall outside the scope of EU permitting rules. Updating the permitting regime of the Electricity Market Directive is therefore a welcome and necessary step.
The Package also proposes a national digital portal for all permitting processes, clear rules and deadlines for grid connection permits, and requirements to digitalise permitting procedures at the Member State level.
“By setting clear deadlines, digitalising data, and centralising information on where projects are in the permitting process, this package improves certainty and transparency for all stakeholders involved in permitting. These measures address some of the key procedural barriers slowing down grid development. Establishing national points of contact within each Member State for grid projects will better facilitate collaboration for long-distance projects than span multiple Member States,” said Nicole Pavia, Program Director for Clean Energy Infrastructure at CATF. “The Package also calls for streamlined reviews and permitting for line upgrades and refurbishments with limited environmental impact. This approach will maximise the efficiency of existing grid assets and could reduce the need for new build.”
The proposal also introduces a range of measures to strengthen early and effective public engagement.
Pavia continued: “When communities are meaningfully engaged, we see stronger projects that deliver clean energy benefits while fostering trust, job creation, as well as long-term economic growth and support.”
Grid enhancing technologies
CATF welcomes the Commission’s emphasis that grid enhancing technologies are necessary to allow for more efficient use of the existing grid assets. Regulatory frameworks need to incentivise grid operators to invest in cost-effective systems, which allow for flexibility and optimal use of the grid. These include digital solutions, energy storage, including thermal storage, and grid enhancing technologies.
Energy highways and interconnections
Complementing these measures, today the Commission expands on the Energy Highways Initiative, announced by President Von der Leyen in this year’s State of the Union address. The intention is to speed up immediate progress over the next six to nine months on eight critical projects – including electricity interconnections, storage, and hydrogen – addressing key bottlenecks that hamper their implementation. The success of these projects will depend on strengthened political coordination, firm accountability, and swift, proactive cooperation on permitting between the Commission and all concerned Member States.
“Accelerating work on interconnectors is long overdue: the EU is not on track to meet its 2030 interconnection target of 15% with 14 countries still falling short of this benchmark. High interconnection is key for boosting security of our electricity supply and to integrate more clean electricity into energy markets,” said Lea Romm, Associate, Europe Policy, Electricity at CATF.
The Energy Highways Initiative can serve as test cases for best practices in cross-border collaboration, and any learnings should be applied to the broader range of PCI/PMI projects to hasten their development. Today’s Grids Package and the Energy Highways Initiative will be key in improving affordability and reducing EU’s electricity prices that remain 2-3 times higher than the U.S.
What’s next?
Today’s package includes a set of legislative and non-legislative measures, amending existing directives like the Renewable Energy, Energy Performance of Buildings, Electricity Market, and the TEN-E Regulation. All of which will follow the ordinary legislative procedure where both co-legislators, European Parliament, and Council will scrutinise, amend, and vote on their positions before the trilogue negotiations take place.
“Swift negotiations on these legislative proposals are essential to ensure that their benefits are delivered without delay to consumers and Europe’s industry,” said Romm.
Press Contact
Julia Kislitsyna, Communications Manager, Europe, [email protected], +49 151 16220453
About Clean Air Task Force
Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a global nonprofit organisation working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalysing the rapid development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. With more than 25 years of internationally recognised expertise on climate policy and a fierce commitment to exploring all potential solutions, CATF is a pragmatic, non-ideological advocacy group with the bold ideas needed to address climate change. CATF has offices in Boston, Washington D.C., and Brussels, with staff working virtually around the world. Visit catf.us and follow @cleanaircatf.
