CAN Europe analysis on the European Grids Package
“This package is a much needed step towards accelerating Europe’s transition to a fully renewable and resilient grid. Through new European-level planning, we can expand and modernise grids more effectively, while maximising the use of our existing networks. New rules of public participation and benefit sharing will allow citizens to reap the benefits of renewable power, strengthen public support, and prevent delays to the transition. Yet, acceleration must go hand in hand with robust environmental protection with nature, climate, and energy security goals reinforcing one another. Reopening RED III and its environmental provisions for permitting could carry a real risk of delaying transposition and implementation, and with it Europe’s ability to rapidly deploy the renewables it urgently needs. – Tom Lewis, Energy Policy Expert, CAN Europe “While the Energy Highways Initiative is promising when it comes to fast-tracking political and financial support for cross-border electricity infrastructure, it also provides a backdoor for more fossil gas to come into the EU. After the EU’s political agreement on phasing out from Russian gas by 2027, the Trans-Balkan Pipeline will open the floodgates for massive US LNG imports coming into the EU via Greece, going up to Ukraine for storage and to be dispatched from there to Central Eastern Europe. This is a major contradiction to the aim of this package, strengthening energy security, reducing energy prices and integrating more renewable energy. – Esther Bollendorff, Senior Gas Policy Expert at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe Full reaction here
The Good:
Strengthening EU-wide planning The proposal calls for more EU coordination of the planning of the energy system, with the EU Commission in charge of developing a central EU scenario. This is a positive change to EU energy planning, as infrastructure development can better ensure far reaching benefits across the entire EU, and that renewable power can more easily flow between east and west, and north and south. Rather than focusing on only local objectives, an EU-wide approach can ensure a more efficient and cost-effective energy system. The Commission’s new power to initiate a “gap filling” process can help prevent bottlenecks,when new capacity needs in the grid have been identified, but projects have not been put forward to satisfy these needs, the Commission can now step in to help propose new projects. Optimising the existing grid Today, we are facing queues to connect renewables, heat pumps, and industry, and have congestion issues across the grid. The expansion of our electricity grid is essential, but it will take time. The European Grids Package calls to follow the “energy efficiency first” principle, through the development of smart grids, grid enhancing technologies, and network efficiency. Boosting today’s capacity in parallel to building new lines can speed up the energy transition, and help lower energy prices through the integration of renewable power. Stronger public involvement requirements and benefit-sharing for local communities Without strong public participation in energy planning, there is a risk of creating a public backlash against vital electricity infrastructure and renewables. Short term “gains” in overriding the public can backfire and lead to further delays in the future. The leaked package introduces a new requirement for renewable energy projects over 10MW to redistribute benefits to the local population. Additionally, it introduces the obligation to designate independent facilitators to engage with early dialogue with communities when a project is announced, reducing the risk of delays via judicial challenges and supporting a more democratic planning process. A new toolbox on public participation has been announced, to be published in Q1 2026, to facilitate the sharing of good practices to involve citizens in planning and promote benefit sharing. Better political intervention in interconnection delays The EU is behind on its objectives for interconnection. The aim is for all EU countries to reach an interconnection rate of 15% by 2030, however, as it stands, 14 countries are still below the target. Under the new “Energy Highways” initiative, the EU Commission seeks to speed up bottlenecks in the electricity system, via both support and pressure. The case of the Iberian example is explicitly called out. Today, Spain has an interconnection rate of only 3.6%, a decrease from last year of 4.2%. This is leading to high levels of renewable curtailment, while lower interconnection rates have been linked to higher rates of blackouts. The Commission is proposing a “joint political declaration” with partners to get the projects moving, and to pressure France to comply.The Bad:
Environmental backsliding The EU needs to speed up the deployment of its electricity grids to rapidly integrate new renewables and electrified demand to reach its climate targets. However, the current proposed amendment of RED III set in the Permitting Act risks seriously weakening the environmental safeguards by proposing to water down environmental assessments and to extend the tacit approval to projects outside of Renewables Acceleration Areas for instance. This shift risks hampering efforts to protect biodiversity, ensuring a sustainable speed with quality, and could create the opposite of what the EU needs: more public opposition, more legal challenges, and ultimately more delays. The only effective pathway is the one that maximises synergies with nature protection, accelerating deployment in a fast and sustainable manner.The EU should therefore focus on fully implementing RED III, digitalise permitting processes, and to adequately staff and fund national and local permitting authorities. Reopening RED III and its environmental aspect for permitting could carry a real risk of further delaying the transposition and implementation of RED III, and with it EU’s ability to speed up its necessary renewables deployment. For reference, nearly all Member States are failing to transpose the directive’s permitting and spatial planning’s provisions into national law. Similar amendments have been made to the gas directive (2024/1788) with the objective of speeding up authorisation procedures by shortening consultation periods or applying tacit approvals for gas and hydrogen projects. This risks creating further lock-in into gas and fossil based hydrogen infrastructure projects and needs to be seen in the context of the US/EU trade deal agreement aiming at increasing US energy imports worth $750bn over the next three years.The Ugly:
The Energy Highways Initiative, announced by President von der Leyen in the 2025 State of the Union identifies eight urgently needed cross-border energy infrastructure priorities that require fast-tracked political and financial support. The eight highways aim to:- Strengthen energy security, especially by reducing dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
- Integrate more renewable energy and accelerate electrification.
- Reduce energy prices through better market integration and cross-border capacity.
- Address major bottlenecks in permitting, financing, supply chains, and regional coordination.
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