In a two-part briefing note, to be presented as an “other business” item at the Energy Council on Monday 16 December, the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council and the European Commission take stock of the Grid Action Plan, presented in November 2023 (see EUROPE 13302/8) to address “the worsening [state] of (...) readiness of electricity grids across Europe for them to handle a decarbonised, affordable and secure energy system”.
Over the coming months, the European Commission’s services will “dedicate efforts to complete” the action plan’s implementation by 2025, together with the stakeholders concerned.
The Commission highlights a number of areas for attention by Member States, such as possibly including distribution grid investments in any changes to regional and cohesion fund operational programmes, as well as the call for a “technical support instrument” to support national action in areas such as grid permits.
The Commission also draws attention to the continued collection of best practices for distribution system operator (DSO) planning, which can support action at national level, and recalls the organisation of the Copenhagen Energy Infrastructure Forum 2025, which will be “a key milestone” in the action plan’s implementation.
In addition, it is due to publish guidelines on anticipated grid investment in the near future.
The document mentions, in general terms, the work undertaken since publishing the Grid Action Plan, by the Belgian presidency, in particular the publication of a targeted communication (see EUROPE 13420/1), and then by the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council.
The latter expresses the hope that the new Commission will take account of the political discussions and guidelines given by the ministers over the past six months in its future work, when drawing up the “Clean Industrial Deal” and a new legal framework for European grids.
To see the note (in two parts): https://aeur.eu/f/er7 ; https://aeur.eu/f/er8 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)