Cross-border energy infrastructure planning

Key points

The EESC:

• stresses that the energy infrastructure, like infrastructure for transporting and distributing energy, cannot be treated like any other commodity and must instead be classified as a service of general interest for the economy and the population;

• asks for particular attention to be paid to defining grid development, including cross-borders interconnections, both onshore and offshore, as critical infrastructure of an overriding public interest, including climate protection as a regulatory objective and, more generally, synchronising the planning of renewable energies and the electricity grid more effectively;
• underlines that recognising the rising demand, it is particularly important that substantial investments are made in electricity networks to stimulate the European economy and create high-quality (green) jobs;
• calls for more binding measures for Transmission System Operators (TSOs), Distribution System Operators (DSOs), but also including energy producers into grid stabilisation measures, in order to better coordinate their actions and enable the grid to benefit from digitalisation;
• points out that energy infrastructure such as large-scale energy installations need special attention in terms of security measures. In particular, the issue of (cyber-)security should become an even higher priority.