EU impact assessment for European Grids Package and permitting reform

The European Commission has proposed a preferred ‘Policy Option 2’ in its impact assessment for a European Grids Package, revising the TEN‑E Regulation and amending RED, electricity and gas legislation to improve grid planning, cost-sharing, permitting and security.

• Planning & investment: PO2 would introduce a 4‑year central EU scenario, stronger ACER/Commission steer, a ‘gap‑filling’ mechanism for missing cross‑border projects, prioritisation of non‑wired solutions, and 15‑year national grid plans, targeting an optimal grid that could deliver EUR 8 bn/year net system savings by 2040 and cut 143 TWh of RES curtailment.
• Permitting & security: It adds EU‑level permitting deadlines and one‑stop shops for grids, storage and recharging stations, hardens and extends overriding public interest for RES/grids, simplifies environmental assessments, enables wider use of congestion income and bundled CBCAs, and brings security upgrades and cyber/ownership risk checks for PCIs/PMIs under the TEN‑E/CEF framework.