Power in Unity

This policy brief by Ember argues that Europe must double its electricity interconnection capacity over the next ten to fifteen years to meet climate neutrality goals and ensure security of supply. It highlights a gap between current expansion plans and actual power system needs, warning that slow project timeframes—averaging nine years—could create bottlenecks for wind and solar expansion.

• Europe needs to double its current electricity interconnection capacity within the next ten to fifteen years to achieve its energy targets and climate neutrality objective. Current expansion plans are insufficient and fail to meet the needs of even the outdated 2030 energy system based on National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs).
• Interconnection projects in Europe have an average timeframe of nine years, meaning immediate action is required to prevent infrastructure from becoming a bottleneck for the deployment of solar and wind power.
• Several critical cross-border corridors are identified as chronically unaddressed, specifically the triangle between Austria, Hungary and Slovenia; the line from Spain through France to Germany; links between the UK and France and the UK and Ireland; and links between Western Balkan countries and their neighbours, including Greece and North Macedonia.
• The most cost-effective way to close the interconnection gap by 2030 is to accelerate the delivery of 22 GW of interconnection capacity already in the pipeline, which requires political support to overcome slow progress and internal grid development issues.

APA

Cremona, E. (2023). Power in Unity. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2023/06/Policy-Brief-Breaking-Borders-Interconnection-In-Europe.pdf

Chicago

Cremona, Elisabeth. Power in Unity. Ember, 2023. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2023/06/Policy-Brief-Breaking-Borders-Interconnection-In-Europe.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Cremona |first1=Elisabeth |title=Power in Unity |publisher=Ember |date=14 June 2023 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2023/06/Policy-Brief-Breaking-Borders-Interconnection-In-Europe.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cremona2023power, author = {Cremona, Elisabeth}, title = {{Power in Unity}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2023/06/Policy-Brief-Breaking-Borders-Interconnection-In-Europe.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }