The EU Council has approved a series of measures for an interconnected and resilient electricity network in Europe, to ensure energy security and achieve decarbonisation in the bloc.
Energy ministers stated the conclusions align with the growth of renewables and reflect the EU’s ambition to become more green, competitive and resilient in the energy sector.
They emphasised the need to roll out an EU Supergrid to incorporate more renewables, support electrification, stabilize prices and increase energy security, according to Belgian Minister for Energy Tinne Van der Straeten.
The EU aims to achieve a fully integrated, interconnected, and synchronised power system in Europe.
The Council conclusions highlight the need for long-term, coordinated electricity grid infrastructure planning at European level, especially in view of the growing challenge of network congestion.
This planning should be combined with the bottom-up coordination of national plans at regional level and take into account the specificities of regions that are not interconnected or not sufficiently interconnected, according to the EU.
In this context, the Council reminded the conclusions that the European Council on the achievement of a genuine Energy Union and the importance of interconnections in achieving this.
The Commission is invited to propose a strengthened framework that ensures that the grid planning and roll out is compliant with EU climate and energy targets. The aim is to increase transparency and traceability for the whole transmission grid planning and development process.
The conclusions also call on the Commission to assess and identify gaps and develop measures, if needed, to improve the governance framework at EU level concerning the planning, selection and implementation of cross-border infrastructure, in order to ensure a sufficiently integrated European and regional approach.