Grids Package: the EU shifts up a gear and drives the transition forward

Electricity grids are no longer simply infrastructure for transportation, but have come to represent the real driver of European competitiveness. If a route forward was mapped out in 2023, 2025 marks a decisive turning point with the new Grids Package presented by the European Commission: an ambitious strategy to modernise and expand the continent’s energy infrastructure. The goal is clear: to unleash the potential of renewables in order to lower energy costs for citizens and businesses and protect the economy from the geopolitical risks linked with importing gas and oil. Just consider that the EU today has one of the most extensive and resilient electricity grids in the world, sprawling over 11 million kilometres.

From the Action Plan to the eight “Energy Highways”: the evolution of the EU’s strategy. The pathway towards the modernisation of European grids has undergone a radical transformation over the past two years. While the Grids Action Plan launched in 2023 concentrated on identifying structural barriers — such as the slow speed of permitting and the fragmentation of financing — the new Grids Package presented in December 2025 represents an operational step towards an integrated energy architecture. This framework for action, which initially aimed to resolve national bottlenecks, has now been bolstered by an absolute, supranational priority: the eight Energy Highways. These are strategic corridors selected for their capacity to complete the Energy Union. These projects will benefit from enhanced political coordination and accelerated procedures to guarantee rapid implementation.

To support this transformation, the EU has proposed a massive increase in public funds: the budget for the Connecting Europe Facility for Energy (CEF-E) will go from its earlier figure of 5.84 billion euros to a full 29.91 billion euros during the period 2028-2034. This financial commitment is necessary to bridge the gap with competitors such as China and the United States, where industrial electricity prices are currently less than half those in Europe.

Towards a resilient, independent system. Lagging grid development at European level is not just a technical limitation, but an economic burden which the continent can no longer support, as the document presented in December by the EU executive branch reveals and demonstrates. The Commission describes the cost of inaction as “disconcerting”: in 2022, fossil fuels still accounted for 70% of the EU’s gross energy mix, with its dependence on imports of oil and gas touching 98%. This exposure not only drives geopolitical instability, it also generates a critical gap in competitiveness: in 2024, industrial electricity prices in the EU were more than twice those recorded in China and the United States.

To turn the situation around, the new European strategy proposes quintupling the CEF Energy budget — bringing it to almost 30 billion euros — to support projects which reduce foreign dependence and protect consumers from price shocks.
As highlighted by the Grids Package, this commitment is not just a political choice, but the foundation for a strong, independent Europe.

On the front line: key actions by the Italian TSO. Terna has incorporated these directives into its own strategic plan. The company’s commitment manifests itself in an operational strategy that fully embraces the European vision, starting with strengthening the major connecting backbones. By developing Projects of Common Interest (PCI), such as the huge submarine corridors of the Tyrrhenian Link and the Adriatic Link, Terna is tangibly increasing exchange capacity between different market zones.

This infrastructural evolution takes place in the context of long-term planning which no longer focuses solely on national borders, but takes a genuinely European perspective. Terna is engaged in ongoing dialogue with institutions to streamline permitting processes through new legislative proposals which seek to accelerate authorisations for grids and for storage systems.

The digitisation and development of advanced smart grids enable intelligent handling of the intermittent nature of sources like sun and wind, while new methods of financing — like project bundling and the creation of ad hoc Special Purpose Vehicles — make it easier to attract private capital. The entire process guarantees a fair and transparent division of costs between member States, preventing the burden of cross-border investments from falling disproportionately on local consumers.