Flex›Source - EU Grid Action Plan COM2023-757

Source - EU Grid Action Plan COM2023-757

EU Action Plan for Grids — “Grids, the missing link” — COM/2023/757, Communication from the European Commission to the European Parliament, Council, EESC and Committee of the Regions. Published 28 November 2023. Followed by the European Grids Package (COM/2025/1005) in December 2025.

Raw source

  • Raw/Clippings/EUR-Lex - 52023DC0757 - EN.md (first 120 lines read; full text available)

Summary

A 14-point action plan addressing why Europe’s electricity grids are not keeping pace with the clean energy transition. First EU policy document to address distribution network challenges explicitly and systematically alongside transmission.

The plan diagnoses seven structural problems and identifies concrete actions for each. It was the political precursor to the 2025 European Grids Package — most actions in the plan were either completed or superseded by the Package.

Scale and investment need

MetricValue
Total grid investment needed (this decade)€584 billion
Distribution grid investment by 2030€375–425 billion
Electricity consumption growth to 2030~60% increase
Distribution grids over 40 years old~40%
Wind + solar capacity needed by 2030≥1,000 GW (from 400 GW in 2022)
Offshore renewables target by 2030317 GW
Cross-border transmission capacity increase by 2030Double (additional 23 GW by 2025 + 64 GW by 2030)
15% electricity interconnection targetBy 2030

Comparison: US estimated 60% T grid expansion by 2030; China State Grid CNY 1,020 bn in 2022–23; IEA: 80 million km of new grids worldwide needed by 2040.

Key diagnoses

  • Permit waiting time for grid reinforcements: 4–10 years (8–10 years for high voltage)
  • Connection backlogs escalating: several thousand new requests per month for a single medium-size DSO
  • Equipment delivery delays: waiting times for cables and substations can reach 2032
  • Cost overruns due to inflation and rising interest rates
  • 1,500 GW of advanced renewable projects waiting in grid connection queues globally

The 7 areas and 14 actions

I. Accelerating PCIs and new projects (Actions 1–2)

  • Commission, member states and TSOs to strengthen support for PCI/PMI preparation and faster implementation
  • Develop new priority projects; reinforce monitoring with High-Level Groups; annual ministerial meetings
  • Assess future public funding needs for T+D, including storage, H2, CO2 infrastructure

II. Improving long-term grid planning (Actions 3–4)

  • ENTSO-E to enhance top-down planning to 2050; integrate offshore and onshore; incorporate hydrogen
  • EU DSO Entity to map distribution development plans — first systematic EU-level DSO grid planning initiative; by mid-2024 explore best practices for distribution NDPs

Action 4 (DSO) directly led to the ACER-CEER DNDP Guidance (2025) now referenced in Distribution Network Development Plan.

III. Regulatory incentives for forward-looking grid build-out (Actions 5–6)

  • NRAs to introduce supportive, future-proof regulatory frameworks
  • Explicitly calls for rapid agreement on Electricity Market Design reform (then pending) — provisions on anticipatory investments, transmission access guarantees for offshore renewables, TOTEX accounting

This action directly prefigures: the 2024 EMD Reform, TOTEX reform in Sweden (RP5), and Ei’s anticipatory investment work.

IV. Better use of existing grids (Actions 7–9)

  • ENTSO-E and EU DSO Entity to develop recommendations on grid-enhancing technologies (DLR, PST, FACTS)
  • Digitalise operations; real-time monitoring
  • Smarter management of charging infrastructure, demand response, storage

V. Improving access to finance (Actions 10–11)

  • Leverage CEF, ERDF, RRF, Modernisation Fund, EIB
  • Recovery and Resilience Plans: ~€13 billion allocated to grids
  • New approach to identify and support local grid projects (gap: CEF only covers PCIs, not local DSO needs)

VI. Faster and leaner permitting (Actions 12–13)

  • Implement revised RED permitting provisions (2023)
  • Further simplification proposals (→ became COM/2025/1007)

VII. Strengthening supply chains (Action 14)

  • Diversify supply chains; reduce dependency on single suppliers; skills development
  • Net-Zero Industry Act includes grid technologies

Anticipatory investments — first systematic EU treatment

The Grid Action Plan introduced the concept of anticipatory investment as EU grid policy:

“An agreement of concerned parties on the need for anticipatory investments is therefore important.”

The plan called for NRAs to recognize anticipatory investments in the regulatory framework — explicitly linking to the (then-draft) EMD Reform provisions. This framing was the EU-level precursor to:

DSOs — first time in EU grid policy

The plan is notable for explicitly addressing distribution grids as a policy target for the first time:

  • Action 3: EU DSO Entity to map DNDP existence and characteristics — acknowledging that ~2,560 EU DSOs have widely varying planning practices
  • Calls for DSO long-term planning coordinated with TSOs
  • Recognizes distribution grids as the fastest-growing bottleneck (connection queue growth; EV/HP integration; decentralized RES)

This framing shaped the Network Code on Demand Response‘s DNDP requirements and the ACER-CEER DNDP Guidance.

Legislative outcomes

ActionOutcome
PCI accelerationCarried into COM/2025/1006 TEN-E revision
ENTSO-E planning enhancementCommission takes over scenario development in COM/2025/1006
DSO planning mappingEU DSO Entity work; → ACER-CEER DNDP Guidance (2025)
Regulatory incentives / anticipatory investmentEMD Reform 2024 (Art. 19e FNA); C/2025/3291 guidance (2025)
Grid-enhancing techCOM/2025/1006 includes DLR/PST in PCI scope
PermittingCOM/2025/1007
Supply chainsNet-Zero Industry Act; ongoing

Relation to other wiki content