The new map of European electricity

There’s a number that sums up the European energy transformation better than any slogan: 268. This is the total number of projects in the new ENTSO-E TYNDP 2026 portfolio, Europe’s ten-year plan for the construction of the electricity grid of the future. It includes 199 transmission projects and 69 projects for energy storage systems distributed all throughout the continent.

The TYNDP (Ten-Year Network Development Plan) is the architectural blueprint for European energy, the strategic document that determines where the future electricity highways will run, which countries most need to be interconnected, and which infrastructure will be decisive in integrating renewable sources and ensuring energy security.

The body behind the TYNDP is ENTSO-E, the network that brings together 40 electricity transmission system operators from 36 European countries — including Terna, for Italy — with a shared goal: to ensure that the growth of renewable energy is translated into a secure, efficient and interconnected energy system, capable of transporting energy where it is needed, when it is needed, with benefits for citizens and for the European economy.

This is a response to the now-evident paradox of the energy transition: Europe is producing more and more green electricity, but without adequate grids, it risks being unable to use it efficiently.

A century of interconnections. The new landscape of European energy can largely be described in one word: interconnections. Major energy flows in the future will no longer be confined to individual countries, but will cross Europe as required by the availability of wind, sunshine, hydroelectric power and the capacity of storage systems.

The North Sea, for example, is becoming Europe’s main offshore wind hub. Southern Europe, on the other hand, is focusing more on solar. The Balkans and the Mediterranean area are on track to become strategic junctions for the exchange of energy.

Management of this complex new scenario will call for high-capacity grids, HVDC systems, submarine cables and new technologies for the digital management of electricity flows. The TYNDP 2026 has been created specifically to coordinate this enormous infrastructural jigsaw puzzle.

The plan, which is updated every two years, also forms the technical basis for identification of the PCIs, the European Union’s Projects of Common Interest, which is to say those that are considered strategic for the energy security of the continent.

The growth in the number of projects contained in the new portfolio — 59 more than the total of 210 in the 2024 plan — provides a snapshot of a historic point at which the grids are returning to the centre of European industrial policy. After years in which attention was focused almost exclusively on renewable production, Brussels is now recognising the risk of the transition slowing down without transmission infrastructure.

Storage: the new frontier of the energy system. One of the most significant elements of TYNDP 2026 is the increase in energy storage projects. The 69 storage systems (which also include hydroelectric pumping) included within the plan — the figure was 33 in 2024 — are the clearest sign that the European electricity system is entering an era of flexibility.

Indeed, renewable production is intermittent by definition: the sun doesn't always shine, and the wind isn’t always blowing. This is why large batteries and storage systems are becoming indispensable in guaranteeing grid stability.

In recent years, Europe has grasped that the problem is not just about producing green energy, but being able to store it and distribute it when necessary. The new energy mix therefore requires a combination of stronger grids and increasingly widespread storage systems.

European energy studies show that storage and interconnections represent a strategic pairing: batteries make it possible to absorb the peak production of renewables, while cross-border grids make it possible to redistribute energy where it's needed.

This is a major change from a geopolitical point of view too. In the past, the European energy system depended mostly on gas and petroleum routes. Today, energy security is increasingly a matter of having the capacity to manage smart grids, storage and continental electrical connections.

Italy at the heart of the Mediterranean energy scene. Italy holds a particular position in this scenario. In fact, the peninsula is one of the main natural energy bridges between continental Europe, the Balkans, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. It’s no coincidence that the country is involved in many projects, including the interconnections with Montenegro, Tunisia, Slovenia, Greece, Austria and Switzerland, as well as the Sa.Co.I.3 (between Sardinia, Corsica and Italy), the Tyrrhenian Link and the Adriatic Link, among others.

In recent years, Terna has accelerated investments in major electrical backbones and international interconnections, aiming to transform the country into a strategic hub for European energy flows.

The immense direct-current submarine cables, new overseas connections and the strengthening of the internal grid are all guided by the same logic: to increase transport capacity for renewable energy and improve the security of the system.

The challenge for Italy is particularly complex, as there are major territorial differences in the production of energy within the country. The South and the Islands are becoming areas of enormous renewable generation, thanks to solar and wind power; while major industrial consumption remains concentrated first and foremost in the North. This makes it essential to build new backbones capable of transferring enormous quantities of energy along the peninsula. At the same time, Italy has a growing role to play in Mediterranean energy connections. Future interconnections with North Africa could, in fact, transform the country into a strategic platform for imports of green energy and its redistribution towards the rest of Europe.

The grids as geopolitical infrastructure. As well as being a technical plan, the TYNDP 2026 is also a geopolitical document. The war in Ukraine and the energy crisis of recent years, caused partly by the situation in the Middle East, have clearly revealed how energy infrastructure has become a central factor in European security.

For decades, Europe has built its industrial competitiveness on relatively cheap and plentiful energy. Today, the continent faces a completely different challenge: to create a resilient and decarbonised energy system.

In this new scenario, electrical transmission grids take on a strategic role similar to that played by ports, oil pipelines and major railway infrastructure in the twentieth century. They are no longer merely technical structures, but instruments of political, industrial and geopolitical integration.

The growth of European electrical interconnections, in fact, serves to reduce the vulnerability of individual countries, by better distributing production, reserves and balancing capacity.

ENTSO-E defines the TYNDP as the only Pan-European plan for the development of the electricity grid: a sort of vast, shared map to the future of European energy.