The European Grids Package: towards secure and resilient infrastructure
15 December 2025
Executive Summary
The European Grids Package marks a significant step in recognising that Europe’s energy grids are central to the continent’s competitiveness, decarbonisation and security. It clearly identifies Europe’s current weaknesses: congested networks, slow permitting, fragmented planning and supply chain dependencies. Crucially, it ties these challenges to a broader security context shaped by an increasingly complex threat environment.
The Grids Package sets out a security aware agenda. It strengthens EU-wide cross-border infrastructure planning, elevates the role of grid-enhancing technologies (GETs) and prioritises strategic cross-border energy infrastructure through the Energy Highways Initiative. Importantly, it embeds resilience- and security-by-design considerations into infrastructure development.
Insights:
From fragmented planning to strategic European coordination: The European Commission plans to take on the creation of a central EU energy system ‘scenario’ to address fragmented grid development and reduce infrastructure planning burdens for transmission system operators (TSOs). This scenario will be developed with input from member states and stakeholders within two years of the Grids Package’s entry into force following EU negotiations. The scenario is planned to cover electricity, hydrogen, and gas, moving away from segmented sectoral planning (e.g. scenarios only for electricity or only for gas). It will provide a unified baseline for identifying cross-border grid needs and interconnection priorities. To speed up cross-border infrastructure, the Commission can trigger project proposals to address unmet system needs via a new “gap-filling” mechanism.
Prioritising the “first-ready, first-served” principle for connections to the grid over the traditional “first-come, first-served” approach. The Package introduces maturity criteria for connection requests, project milestones with penalties for non-compliance and regular monitoring and clearing of connection queues. These measures are meant to address the growing issue of queue saturation. Factors such as grid optimisation potential and ability to bring technological and geographical energy generation diversity should also be considered.
Embedding security and resilience in infrastructure development. The Package embeds physical and cyber security into cross-border infrastructure planning and investment, promoting a resilience- and security-by-design approach. It also strengthens infrastructure ownership transparency to reduce dependence on high-risk foreign entities and makes security upgrades to existing assets eligible for Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding. These changes represent an important step toward ensuring Europe’s critical infrastructure is resilient from the outset.
Unlocking capacity through GETs (e.g. smart electricity grids, energy storage, automation and AI-based tools.) to boost the use of existing assets and speed up project connections before investing in new grids. The Package calls for firmly integrating these technologies into network planning and promoting them alongside physical grid expansion. Stronger incentives are needed for network operators and users to deploy smart grids, digital and innovative technologies and efficiency measures. Next year, the Commission will present a Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the energy sector providing more guidelines on technology scale-up in the sector.
Acknowledging the need for “Made in Europe” technologies is particularly welcome. More robust and predictable demand signals through next year’s Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) and revision of the EU Public Procurement Framework will be essential to sustain European manufacturing capacity and long-term grid resilience.
The prioritisation of eight flagship corridors under the Energy Highways Initiative is essential to rapidly mobilise support for these projects, especially offshore hybrid assets that combine generation and interconnection functions. Over the next six to nine months, the Commission will provide targeted support through coordination and permitting to speed up the progress of these projects, which may also receive CEF funding. Those include the Harmony Link – an electricity link between Lithuania and Poland, and the Bornholm Energy Island - an offshore interconnector hub in the Baltic Sea.
Exploring new ways to finance energy infrastructure. The Package acknowledges that current tariff-based funding is insufficient and risks under-investment and higher consumer bills. It proposes exploring additional financing tools such as directing part of congestion revenues to interconnector projects of common and mutual interest (PCI/PMI). As cross-border grids deliver wider benefits, the package aims to improve cost-sharing arrangements and ease financing by bundling cross-border projects together and using special-purpose vehicles to attract investment.
Establishing a platform for EU distribution network planning together with the EU Distribution System Operators Entity by the 2026 Energy Infrastructure Forum. This could improve distribution-level visibility on future industry investments and related-manufacturing needs, addressing bottlenecks that lead to delays and curtailments.
If the Package is to become a turning point, following legislation should:
Strengthen European supply chain security and domestic manufacturing capacity. The EU should adopt common supplier-screening frameworks, reinforce European manufacturing of critical grid components and improve standardisation across the supply chain (e.g. transformers). This will reduce long lead-time risks, support “Made in Europe” technologies, and ensure availability of essential equipment during periods of supply chain stress.
Mainstream GETs and establish an EU-wide data governance framework. Grid technologies should be systematically assessed in all major grid investment decisions. A pan-European data governance and interoperability model is needed to enable real-time grid management, facilitate cross-border coordination, and support digital and AI-enabled tools for system resilience.
Introduce resilience metrics, strengthen civil-military coordination, and develop European stockpiles of critical components. Quantifiable resilience criteria would help operators and regulators evaluate vulnerabilities across the system. Enhanced coordination with national security authorities and NATO is vital for protecting critical infrastructure, while a European mapping and stockpiling strategy for key components would accelerate recovery during crisis.
Implement innovative funding approaches that consider operational expenditure and reflect grid optimisation requirements and the faster deployment of grid technologies. These are vital to address the limitations of current funding mechanisms and avoid underinvestment in Europe’s critical infrastructure.