Keynote closing speech by Commissioner Simson at ENTSO-E's High-Level Forum on the 'Future of our grids: accelerating Europe's energy transition'

You will agree with me that this has been a truly impressive event.

Bringing together more than 250 high level participants to discuss the Future of our Grids is, by any standards, an achievement.

Once again, my sincere thank you to ENTSO-E for organising this event.

Now, we must keep up the momentum.

I'm going to be pragmatic and try to set out some points because all I heard today was focusing on solutions.

I heard that the investment level will be a challenge but given that EU and public resources are limited, we need to develop a broader range of financing instruments available to network operators and increase their access to financing.

This can only happen through a continued dialogue between industry, investors, promotional banks, and the EIB.

The first point I propose is to place these issues on the agenda of the upcoming EU Energy Investors Dialogue and then at the Copenhagen Infrastructure Forum, so that we can come up with viable solutions.

The financing issue is closely linked the regulatory dimension.

I heard the arguments from the workshops in favour of a shift in tariff design, to have a more flexible, adaptive framework, including both capital and operating expenses.

This is what we propose in our reform of the Electricity Market Design: reinforce incentives for flexibility solutions, for example, but also anticipatory investments.

This will help us make the most efficient use of existing financial resources.

We will need a significant volume of infrastructure investment anyway, but we must also pursue solutions to make better and smarter use of existing grids through digitalisation and flexibility.

So, my third point is to make progress as soon as possible on finalising the reform of the electricity market design, because we need to conclude the legislative process before next year's elections.

And in parallel, we have to conclude the work on the network code on smart grids.

We should also deliver on the commitment taken in the context of our Digitalisation of Energy Action Plan, concluding the work on the creation of a digital twin of the electricity grid, which ENTSO-E and EU-DSO have begun last December.

We also discussed how we can connect the growing offshore wind capacity to the mainland grid.

My next action point is that we need to provide more simplicity and clarity here, and I want to come forward by early next year with a guidance document on cost-sharing.

Electricity infrastructure is also a critical infrastructure and we need to increase its resilience.

By the end of the year we need to deliver the Network Code on cyber-security for the electricity sector and cross-border flows.

We also had discussions on procurement and skilled labour force.

We are talking a lot about scaling up manufacturing capacity and the skilled labour shortages.

Visibility was a recurrent word. There is a lot to gain by giving manufacturers greater visibility and predictability on the pipeline of future grid reinforcement projects.

As you know, in this moment we are receiving draft updated National Energy and Climate Plans. We will stress this point in our dialogue with Member States so that they can make their plans beyond 2030.

We have also talked about how the private sector needs to lead on re-skilling and up-skilling.

Finally, today's Forum has once again highlighted the importance of fast and lean permitting and authorisation rules, building trust and ensuring public support.

I believe we have already done a lot in this area, but what matters is implementation.

A lot happens at the national and local level.

What I see as priority for the Commission is to make sure that the new Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) rules are in place by 1st July next year, with no delay.

Finally, I also agree that there is much we can do without legislation, for example, early proactive engagement with all stakeholders at local and regional level – this can save time and costs for litigation.

Having said that, I am really grateful for the very good conversations.

I can assure you that the European Commission and I, myself, my team, we have put a strong focus on grids because they are emblematic of the broader challenges the Green Deal faces.

The challenge to move from targets, rules, frameworks to implementation, to make things happen on the ground.

That's why it is so important to leave this forum with the willingness to continue our work jointly.

The points I just mentioned come together as a first sketch of a “Grid Action Plan”, a group of initial measures to step up the pace in the coming months.

I understand that ENTSO-E will publish the conclusions of the workshops in the coming days.

These documents will point us to where we need to work more and help build a more comprehensive agenda of actions.

To conclude: Our work has just begun.

I propose that we take stock of progress on all these points already next year, at the Copenhagen Forum.

Grids are now front and centre of our agenda and our future success depends on that.

Thank you for your attention.