Commission Notice on a guidance on anticipatory investments for developing forward-looking electricity networks

Official Journal of the European Union EN C series C/2025/3179 6.6.2025 COMMISSION NOTICE on a guidance on anticipatory investments for developing forward-looking electricity networks (C/2025/3179) 1. INTRODUCTION Europe’s electricity sector is facing an extraordinary and rapid transformation. The deployment of clean capacities, notably variable renewable sources, has been remodelling the electricity mix of the EU to deliver energy that is domestic, secure, competitive, and decarbonised for all consumers. Just in the period of 2022-2024, a record of 168 GW of solar and 44 GW of wind capacities were installed in the EU. In 2024, 47 % of electricity generation in the EU came from renewables. Likewise, demand is changing with new uses such as electrification, including electromobility, heating and cooling, hydrogen production and some industrial processes, particularly those operating in low and mid temperatures. These new patterns will likely lead to an increase in electricity consumption in the coming years. Electricity grids are the necessary link between generation and demand. They provide the network capacity needed to connect households as well as new industry and businesses. Europe’s electricity system is based on grids mostly built, in an anticipatory manner, in the 1970s and the 1980s for the traditional types of generation capacities at the time (1). These grids are both in need of modernisation and refurbishment, but also in urgent need of expansion to...