European Current: 11 September 2026

Countries across Europe are exploring mechanisms to improve transmission networks to ensure renewable energy systems (RES) can come on line and that existing infrastructure can better manage the energy transition. One set of countries is considering ways to improve and accelerate interconnection for priority projects. Denmark 🇩🇰 has proposed doing away with a first-come-first-served process in favor of establishing categories that will receive expedited grid connections. Belgium 🇧🇪, on the other hand, is proposing changes to grid connection study processing to clear projects faster. Meanwhile, Spain 🇪🇸 has created a fast-track permitting process to bring strategic RES online faster. Broadly, these new approaches will reward projects that both meet the specified criteria and can credibly deliver the capacity they say they can.

Several regulators are also trying to get around transmission's long construction process by squeezing more out of the wires they already have, promoting technologies that can raise the capacity of existing transmission lines. The United Kingdom (UK) 🇬🇧 and Switzerland 🇨🇭 have both published consultations on technologies to support the grid. The UK is interested in how AI can be used to improve network monitoring and grid operations, while Swissgrid has teamed up with seven other transmission system operators (TSOs) on an open call for technologies that can reduce bottlenecks and unlock additional capacity on the grid. Lastly, Romania 🇷🇴 approved a transmission plan that requires the deployment of dynamic line rating and high-temperature conductors. If these markets are successful in creating additional capacity with their existing infrastructure, space for additional RES will open up much faster than in markets trying to build more lines.

Switzerland's 🇨🇭 is also working with Italy 🇮🇹 to ease the cross-border flow of electrons. The two countries are accepting consultation on a joint proposal to establish a continuous intraday capacity allocation mechanism to create more efficient cross-border trading. Additionally, Romania's aforementioned transmission plan comes alongside an order to accelerate the country's interconnection with Hungary 🇭🇺 and Bulgaria's grids, and Ireland 🇮🇪 approved a regulation to allow foreign generators to participate in its capacity market. Increased cross-border interconnections increases the number of markets RES can sell into, and this increased competition should narrow electricity price spreads between countries.

Another group is addressing grid connection charges. Germany 🇩🇪 is finalising its reform to the General Network Charges System in order to redistribute grid and congestion costs to accommodate growing RES interconnection. Ireland 🇮🇪, the UK 🇬🇧, and Poland 🇵🇱 are each modifying their tariff calculation processes. Whereas Poland explicitly aims to lower costs for battery energy storage systems (BESS), the Netherlands' 🇳🇱 change to collateral calculations will likely increase costs for assets acting as balancing responsible parties (BRPs).

Italy's 🇮🇹 Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto signed a decree requiring Terna, Italy's 🇮🇹 TSO, to publish the maximum additional capacity available for new renewable energy and storage projects to connect to the network. It also creates specific criteria the grid operator must use to determine available capacity and how it gets allocated—and it must publish available capacity at least 30 days before the registration window opens.

When a project applies to connect to the grid, it reserves a slice of the network's capacity. Many projects stall because they fail to get permits and thus never get built, but their reservation sits there, blocking others. The result is a grid that looks full but in reality has plenty of space. Pichetto calls this ‘virtual saturation.’ Real projects get turned away from capacity that is being held by projects that will never exist.

Today, finding out whether a site has a viable connection largely means applying and waiting. Published capacity figures give developers a resource against which to check first and rank potential connection sites by where available capacity exists. This should allow developers to spend less time and money on sites at clogged connection points and focus instead on viable projects. The 30-day notice period gives them additional time to plan, as well. At the same time, the number of connection opportunities should increase as capacity held up by stalled projects is opened up.

Finland 🇫🇮

8 September (+): Fingrid will not purchase any frequency stabilization reserves, which are used to balance the electricity system, from the annual market in 2027, electing to procure reserves only from the hourly reserve market  The TSO claims this will simplify the market, improve reserve availability, increase predictability, and minimize customer costs. A shift in procurement to the hourly market should support BESS, as they benefit from shorter intervals that reduce forecasting error. (Fingrid)

Ireland 🇮🇪

8 September (neutral): The Single Electricity Market (SEM) Committee decided on a framework for allowing foreign capacity providers to directly participate in Ireland’s 🇮🇪 CRM. These assets will participate in a pre-selection auction for foreign units, the winners of which will then compete in the main CRM auctions alongside domestic generators. As this is a policy framework, the market design and operational rules are still in the works. While this represents an opening of the Irish market to generators from continental Europe, primarily France 🇫🇷 via the Celtic Interconnector, it exposes domestic generators to greater competition. (SEM Committee)

Lithuania 🇱🇹

4 September (neutral): The State Energy Regulatory Council (VERT) amended its price-setting methodology for transmission, distribution, and public-supply service. The new rules will allow regulated companies to hedge wholesale electricity price risk and recover the cost via a price cap. These companies must submit their hedging strategy to VERT before using derivatives to manage their price risk. Once approved, companies will be required to report the volume hedged, the cost of the hedge, and their rationale, with comparison to an alternative course of action. For renewable developers with public supply contracts or who sell into the balancing market, this hedging could mean more consistent demand and fewer emergency interventions. (E-Seimas)

Poland 🇵🇱

4 September (tailwind): The Minister of Energy published an ordinance establishing the methodology that electricity market participants must use to build and calculate regulated tariffs and settle payments in electricity trading. The changes include a reduction in network charges to the proportion that BESS or pumped-hydro return energy to the grid, as well as an option to create incentives for flexible, off-peak use. The network charge change should reduce storage systems’ operating costs, and the incentives act as a further boost to variable energy resources. (Dziennik Ustaw)

Sweden 🇸🇪

4 September (+): Svenska kraftnät is inviting qualified strategic reserve suppliers to submit tenders for the upcoming winter season. The strategic reserve is a mechanism to maintain power adequacy and security during periods of acute stress, offering RES another revenue stream that can support existing and future renewable projects. It is activated when there is elevated risk that other balancing resources will be unable to guarantee stability in the electricity system. (Svenska kraftnät)

9 September (neutral): On 1 July 2027, the Energy Markets Inspectorate (Ei) will replace its default electricity trading agreements with a last-resort supplier with a duty to supply system. These agreements provide a safety net for consumers who do not have an active supply contract. Under the new arrangement, last-resort suppliers must reach agreements with consumers to provide electricity if and when their primary supplier is unable to. Detailed rules and market structure are still forthcoming. (Ei)

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

10 September (neutral): The Economy Minister approved the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme (Closure) Regulations, which converts existing accredited biomass and biogas generators in Northern Ireland into ‘closure accredited installation’ that will receive a fixed annual closure payment, rather than periodic support linked to their output. These generators will continue to receive support for their 20-year tariff life, but the new fixed payment means that those running above their historic load factor will lose out on the upside from output-linked support, whereas those running below are better protected. (Gov.UK)

Spain 🇪🇸

7 September (+): The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) declared that every renewable and storage project that wins a competitive tender for grid-evacuation capacity at a ‘just transition node’ will be automatically designated as ‘strategic energy facilities’. This classification grants priority processing for permitting, environmental reviews, and other authorizations. It amounts to a fast-track permitting process to get more solar, wind, and BESS connected to the grid. (BOE)

European Union 🇪🇺

8 September (+): The European Investment Bank (EIB) granted a €1 billion concessional credit facility to Elia Transmission Belgium’s to finance Princess Elisabeth Island, an artificial energy island under construction in the North Sea that will collect and transmit power from offshore wind assets to the mainland grid. The favorable terms reduce Elia’s cost of capital, reducing the risk of a project that future offshore wind projects will need to connect to, which should serve as downward pressure on their own grid charges and connection risk. (EIB)

Belgium 🇧🇪

4 September (neutral): The Walloon Energy Commission (CWaPE) approved Elia’s ten-year local transmission network adaptation plan. Although CWaPE notes a handful of reservations about the plan, including past failures to achieve planned investment levels, they elected  not to request any revisions to the plan at this time. (CWaPE)

10 September (+): 10 September: Philippe, King of the Belgians, signed a royal decree to establish a binding legal deadline to bring each part of the planned extension of the Modular Offshore Grid into service. As of today, only Phase 1 has a set date to reach operation, which is 1 October 2031. The Modular Offshore Grid extension is shared infrastructure that future offshore wind capacity will need to connect through, so a firm date for operation reduces interconnection timing risk for those projects. (EJustice)

Ireland 🇮🇪 / United Kingdom 🇬🇧

7 September (neutral): EirGrid and the System Operation of Northern Ireland (SONI) published its approved Generator Transmission Use of System (GTUoS) tariffs for the 12 months beginning on 1 October 2026. The GTUoS is the island-wide annual tariff that every generator must pay to use the transmission network; it is an annual capacity charge based on a project’s maximum export capacity. The rules also create a new pool for ‘Ireland TSO Connected BESS’, which will allow EirGrid and SONI to more accurately price storage on its own export pattern. Previously, BESS projects were spread across categories, so their cost profiles were often proxies and not true reflections of their grid impact. (EirGrid; SONI)

Italy 🇮🇹

8 September (+): Pichetto signed a decree that will require Terna to publicly disclose the maximum additional capacity available for new renewable and storage projects. The goal is to reduce the number of renewable and storage assets that indefinitely take up grid capacity but never achieve authorisation to connect to the grid. The decree establishes specific criteria Terna must use for determining and allocating available capacity. Among these is a requirement for the grid operator to publish available capacity at least 30 days before the capacity registration window opens. (MASE)

Romania 🇷🇴

4 September (+): The National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) approved Transelectrica’s ten-year grid investment plan. The plan, which sets the available transmission capacity for the next decade, includes 117 investments to modernize Romania’s 🇷🇴 grid. It mandates the use of dynamic line rating and high-temperature conductors, signaling short-term capacity increases on existing transmission corridors. ANRE also ordered Transelectrica to put forth an acceleration plan for two projects to connect Romania’s 🇷🇴 transmission grid to those of Hungary and Bulgaria in order to bring Romania’s 🇷🇴 cross-border trading capacity in line with the EU’s 70 percent requirement. Additional cross-border capacity should open export routes and contribute to price convergence between these markets. (ANRE)

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

9 September (neutral): The Treasury presented to Parliament its implementing regulations for the UK’s 🇬🇧 Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). These new regulations detail the rules importers must follow to calculate, report, and verify their imported emissions. CBAM applies a charge to the embodied carbon emissions of imported products to equalize their carbon price with those paid by domestic producers under the Emissions Trading System (ETS). CBAM applies to certain high-emitting sectors, such as steel, aluminium, cement, and fertiliser. On top of the costs of complying with CBAM, since covered sectors include RES inputs, CBAM will likely increase supply chain costs for developers. At the same time, it intends to increase the competitiveness of lower-carbon UK producers of these goods. (Gov.UK)

European Union 🇪🇺

(Neutral): The European Commission is reviewing the core EU ETS and the Market Stability Reserve mechanism. Any change to these systems would impact the carbon price that ETS-exposed electricity generators would pay. The review is open for public consultation. The deadline to respond is 21 October 2026. (European Commission)

Belgium 🇧🇪

(Neutral): The Electricity and Gas Regulatory Commission (CREG) is taking public comment on a draft decision to extend a transitional period for processing grid-connection studies. Adjustments to the duration of the transition period would alter how quickly RES in the interconnection queue get connected to the grid. The deadline to respond is 18 September 2026 (CREG)

Bulgaria 🇧🇬

(Neutral): The Bulgarian government is accepting public comment on a draft amendment to the Energy Efficiency Act to align with the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The amendment adjusts the level of fines under the act as it switches to the euro and folds the Sustainable Development Agency into the Ministry of Energy. The deadline to respond is 11 September 2026. (Council of Ministers)

Czechia 🇨🇿

(Neutral): The Energy Regulatory Office (ERU) opened public consultation on a draft decision that would set the compensation paid to mandatory purchasers and the fees the electricity market operator charges on accounts for guarantees of origin. The proposal would decrease guarantee-of-origin issuance and transfer prices and increase the account maintenance fee to account for inflation since 2016. The deadline to respond is 16 September 2026. (ERU)

Denmark 🇩🇰

(+): The Danish Energy Agency is accepting public comment on six draft executive orders, one of which will replace the country's first-come-first-served interconnection queue system with four priority categories, which include energy storage and data centres. The deadline to respond is 22 September 2026. (Høringsportalen)

(Neutral): The Danish Energy Agency is holding a public hearing on the demand, generation, and cost assumptions underpinning Energinet's biennial Long-Term Development Plan. These assumptions will shape the amount of demand and generation that Energinet plans to meet with additional transmission capacity. This will directly impact a project developer's timeline and cost exposure for future grid connections. There will be a meeting on 23 September 2026 and the deadline for written responses is 30 October 2026. (Høringsportalen)

Finland 🇫🇮

(-): The Ministry of Employment and the Economy is accepting public comment on a draft law to require every data centre with at least 0.5 megawatts of installed power demand to register with the government and disclose their network impacts. The National Emergency Supply Agency would maintain the register and monitor companies’ compliance—an attempt to create a comprehensive picture of both existing and planned data centres in Finland 🇫🇮, including their purposes, ownership, and electricity consumption. The deadline to respond is 2 October 2026. (Tem.Fi)

(Neutral): The Ministry of Employment and the Economy put out for public comment four regulations under the country's new Nuclear Energy Act. They concern material surveillance, waste management, and explosives manufacturing. The deadline to respond is 12 October 2026 and the regulations will take effect alongside the new law on 1 January 2027. (Tem.Fi)

France 🇫🇷

(Neutral): The French government issued a call for projects that address the environmental impact of data centres. The deadline for the first round of applications is 29 October 2026. (Ministry of Ecological Transition)

Germany 🇩🇪

(Neutral): The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) will take consultation on a final draft regulation to reform the General Network Charges System for Electricity. This rule would directly affect long-run grid connection costs for new generation and storage projects. The deadline to respond is 18 September 2026. (BNetzA)

(Neutral): BNetzA is accepting public comment on a draft scenario framework for the electricity system from 2027 to 2040. This framework sets demand-and-supply assumptions that undergird Germany's grid development plans. The deadline to respond is 28 September 2026. (BNetzA)

Ireland 🇮🇪

(-): The Department of Climate, Energy, and the Environment is soliciting comments on how to apply Article 26 of the EU's Net-Zero Industry Act to future offshore wind auctions under Ireland's Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS). Under Article 26, all auctions within renewable energy support schemes must include non-price criteria as a condition to participate, but ORESS currently uses a price-only mechanism. Non-price criteria under Article 26 include sustainability, resilience, and cybersecurity, which would make supply chain decisions commercially relevant for support under the updated scheme. The deadline to respond is 9 October 2026. (Gov.IE)

Italy 🇮🇹

(+): Terna is accepting feedback on updates to its Network Code and its Load Frequency Control Block Operational Agreement that would expand and adjust how aggregated resources participate in Italy's manual frequency restoration reserve (mFRR) balancing market. These rules determine whether and how BESS or demand response systems participate in the balancing market. The deadline to respond is 30 October 2026. (Terna)

Italy 🇮🇹 / Switzerland 🇨🇭

(+): Terna and Swissgrid, the TSOs for Italy 🇮🇹 and Switzerland 🇨🇭, respectively, jointly launched a public consultation on introducing an intraday continuous capacity allocation mechanism on their shared border. The purpose of this mechanism would be to enable more efficient cross-border trading, which would improve generators’ ability to re-trade positions close to delivery. This is of particular importance for intermittent energy resources, since generators can correct their positions up until the moment of delivery, significantly reducing forecasting error. The deadline to respond is 7 October 2026 (ENTSO-E; Terna)

Netherlands 🇳🇱

(Neutral): The Authority for Consumers and Markets is accepting public comments on a draft amendment to the electricity system's method for calculating collateral that BRPs must provide to TenneT. A higher collateral cost for operating as a BRP would increase working capital costs. The deadline to respond is 6 October 2026. (Officiële Bekendmakingen)

Portugal 🇵🇹

(+): The Directorate-General for Energy and Geology (DGEG) opened a public comment period on Portugal's inaugural National Energy Storage Strategy. The strategy proposes measures on the economic valuation of storage, the regulatory framework, simplifying grid connection procedures, and support for innovation. It also sets binding national storage capacity targets of 6.9 GW by 2030 and 9.76 GW by 2040. The deadline to respond is 16 September 2026. (DGEG)

Romania 🇷🇴

(+): ANRE is seeking public comment on a draft procedure that outlines how a financial guarantee required under ANRE's licensing regulation must be structured and executed. Entities applying for or holding a license for electricity generation, supply, or trading are subject to this rule, impacting these projects' capital requirements. However, the draft would carve contract-for-difference projects and co-located storage projects out of this requirement. The deadline to respond is 23 September 2026. (ANRE)

Slovakia 🇸🇰

(Neutral): The Slovak Electricity Transmission System (SEPS) proposed changes to technical conditions for connecting to the grid. The changes include a frequency response testing requirement for BESS and pumped-hydro systems and an update to aggregation rules that would allow small operators to add new devices, such as batteries, to their pool without requiring re-testing of the entire pool. For context: smaller operators will often pool their systems together and sell them to SEPS as a block, so this lowers the cost of adding capacity to BESS or demand response systems. The deadline to respond is 23 September 2026. (SEPS)

(-): SEPS is also accepting public consultation on a change to its operating rules that would increase penalties for undelivered capacity. Depending on the length of time before notifying SEPS that they will be unable to deliver the agreed upon capacity, generators will pay a penalty per missing megawatt on the winning price of: 50 percent if at least a week ahead of delivery, 80 percent if by 10:30 the day before delivery, and 100 percent for any time thereafter. Additionally, failing a test activation will result in paying double the offered volume multiplied by the offer price; equipment reporting a different output than what was offered results in a €1,000 fine per 15-minute period, capped at €5,000 per device per day; and under-delivering on availability will incur a fee of 125 percent of the contract price plus 25 percent of the energy price per missing megawatt. Repeated violations will result in suspension. The deadline to respond is 23 September 2026. (SEPS)

Spain 🇪🇸

Neutral: MITECO is taking public comments on a proposed Order to develop a Renewable Fuels Certification System and a renewable electricity credit mechanism. The deadline to respond is 15 September 2026. (MITECO)

(+): MITECO is consulting on a new competitive-award subsidy program that would support net-zero emissions technologies as defined by the EU's Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform regulation. The deadline to respond is 23 September 2026. (MITECO)

Sweden 🇸🇪

(Neutral): Ei sent a survey to Swedish grid companies to collect data to inform new standard values for grid connection charges for projects with a fuse rating up to 25 amperes. This would replace the current case-by-case methodology for establishing “reasonable” charges. The companies must respond by 25 September 2026. (Ei)

Switzerland 🇨🇭

(+): The Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE) opened a cantonal hearing and public comment process on the federal government’s spatial planning instrument, which determines onshore wind siting decisions. The goal is to create greater certainty for planning authorities and project developers to increase the likelihood of wind projects getting built. The deadline to respond is 31 October 2026 (Federal Office of Energy)

(+): Swissgrid, along with seven other European TSOs, launched an open call for innovative technologies to reduce grid bottlenecks and unlock existing transmission capacity. The group is specifically interested in four categories of technologies: monitoring, forecasting, and sensors; transmission system management; capacity expansion and grid system performance improvement; and cross-sector technologies. The deadline to submit an application is 9 October 2026 and finalists will pitch to the TSOs in Switzerland 🇨🇭 on 9 and 10 November 2026. (Swissgrid)

United Kingdom 🇬🇧

(-): Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is accepting feedback on proposals to create environmental compensatory measures related to offshore wind. The deadline to respond is 21 September 2026. (DAERA)

(Neutral): The National Energy System Operator (NESO) published its annual Financial Model Consultation, as required by Ofgem. This mechanism impacts transmission charges and the costs British electricity generators pay to connect to the grid. The deadline to respond is 25 September 2026. (NESO)

(+): Alongside the capacity market rule changes below, DESNZ published an open letter asking for evidence on emerging technologies that do not fit into existing generating technology classes but could contribute to the security of Great Britain's electricity supply. The deadline to respond is 4 October 2026. (Gov.UK)

(Neutral): DESNZ proposed three changes to capacity market rules: enhanced delivery assurance, a more precise derating methodology, and increased transparency to support enforcement. Stricter delivery assurance means all capacity market participants will face a higher compliance threshold, while a change to the derating methodology will impact how much revenue a flexibility asset can earn. The deadline to respond is 27 October 2026. (Gov.UK)

(+): DESNZ issued a call for evidence to inform the ‘UK AI for Clean Energy Strategy’. They are seeking feedback from industry, academics, regulators, and system operators on the opportunities, risks, barriers, and long-term impacts of integrating AI in the UK’s 🇬🇧 energy system. Additionally, they are exploring AI in electricity networks—how it can be used to accelerate connection queue processes, strengthen network monitoring capabilities, and improve grid operations. The deadline to respond is 6 November 2026. (Gov.UK)

France 🇫🇷: Report on the Economics of the French Electricity System

Poland 🇵🇱: Estimated Flexibility Needs Report