Europe has rightly recognized that electricity grids have a crucial role in decarbonising its economy, in achieving energy independence, and driving competitiveness. CurrENT is now calling for urgent action on the deployment of innovative grid technologies to unleash the full potential of Europe’s electricity grid at the lowest cost to consumers. Innovative grid technologies include grid-enhancing technologies that get more out of the existing grid, technologies that enable operation of a power system with a high penetration of renewables, and high-capacity conductors that offer up to ten times the transfer capacity of traditional conductors and significantly reduce network losses.

It is essential that electricity grids feature prominently in the Clean Industrial Deal. CurrENT recommends policymakers include the following key elements:

1. A strategy for a mass deployment of innovative grid technologies in Europe, including gridenhancing technologies and high-capacity conductors.
2. Specific and SMART grid targets to measure whether Europe is on track to deliver the grids needed, e.g. decreasing the curtailment of renewables, decreasing the cost of grid capacity expansion in EUR per GW-km, increasing grid capacity in GW-km, increasing the efficient use of the grid, reducing losses, and decreasing raw materials per GW-km.
3. Financing mechanisms that enable the mass deployment of innovative grid technologies, e.g. benefit-sharing incentives that reward system operators for expanding their toolbox of technologies to save consumers money, guarantees that alleviate grid operator financial risks specific to trialling new technologies, dedicated grid technology calls under the Innovation Fund and other research and innovation programmes.
4. Anticipatory investments that look at fully decarbonised scenarios and that are guided by the NOVA principle, prioritising the optimisation and reinforcement of the existing network over grid expansion while promoting and demonstrating new high capacity and high efficiency conductor technology.

These recommendations give Europe a realistic chance to decarbonize the power system before 2040, which will be needed to reach net zero by 2050.