Grid Development in Europe: Five Actions to Strengthen the Business and Economic Case

The briefing argues that meeting 2050 net-zero goals requires doubling annual grid investments to over $750 billion by 2030. It identifies key barriers such as permitting delays, labor shortages, and regulatory uncertainty, and proposes five actions: holistic investment assessment, improved investment attractiveness, redesigned consumer tariffs, comprehensive network planning, and accelerated infrastructure delivery. The paper provides case studies from Italy, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany to illustrate best practices in regulatory frameworks and procurement.

• To achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, annual grid investments must increase to more than $750 billion by 2030, and the total grid length needs to more than double to reach 166 million kilometres.
• Governments should adopt a holistic economic case for grid development that includes the costs of inaction, such as renewables curtailment, stranded assets, and the cost of delayed electrification via fossil fuel imports, alongside societal benefits like job creation and resilience.
• Regulators can make grid investments more attractive by streamlining permitting—which currently takes up to 10 years for transmission grids—and by acknowledging the risk of underutilized or stranded assets in anticipatory investments, which could improve investment efficiency by up to 10%.
• Shifting consumer tariffs from volume-based (kWh) to capacity-based (kW) can optimize grid use; a case study in Flanders, Belgium, showed this resulted in an 8.3% more efficient use of the grid without increasing household costs.
• Comprehensive network planning should extend beyond the traditional 10-year horizon to align with 2040 and 2050 goals and integrate flexibility to reduce curtailment and dependency on fossil fuels.
• Infrastructure delivery is hindered by long lead times for critical components, such as transformers which can take over 18 months, and a projected doubling of material demand by 2030.
• Moving from bespoke technical specifications to functional requirements in procurement could reduce document complexity from 23,000 pages to 1,000-2,000 pages, potentially accelerating project execution by 25% and reducing costs by 10%.

APA

World Economic Forum (2024). Grid Development in Europe: Five Actions to Strengthen the Business and Economic Case. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Grid_Development_in_Europe_2024.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Grid Development in Europe: Five Actions to Strengthen the Business and Economic Case. 2024. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Grid_Development_in_Europe_2024.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Grid Development in Europe: Five Actions to Strengthen the Business and Economic Case |date=October 2024 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Grid_Development_in_Europe_2024.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2024grid, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Grid Development in Europe: Five Actions to Strengthen the Business and Economic Case}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Grid_Development_in_Europe_2024.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }