Grid queuing in Europe is stalling 1.7 TW of renewable projects
- Editorial Team SDG7
- Oct 9
- 3 min read
Europe’s energy transition is being held back not by lack of ambition, but by a bottleneck in its electricity grid. Across 16 countries, around 1,700 gigawatts (GW) of renewable projects are waiting in the queue for connection, more than three times the capacity required to hit 2030 climate and energy targets. In 2024 alone, €7.2 billion worth of clean power was curtailed in just seven countries because transmission systems could not absorb it. Add to this €580 million in welfare losses and €4.3 billion in congestion management, and the price of grid inertia becomes difficult to ignore.
Why the grid is stuck in the past
The roots of the backlog lie in structural and regulatory shortcomings. Much of Europe’s high-voltage system was designed decades ago for fossil fuels, where power flowed one way from central plants to consumers. Renewables, by contrast, are dispersed and intermittent, demanding a more flexible and resilient grid. Yet modernisation is painfully slow.
Permitting delays, fragmented jurisdictions and local opposition further slow construction of new lines. Developers, sometimes acting speculatively, reserve grid capacity without firm financing, pushing viable projects to the back of the queue. Meanwhile, grid planning lags far behind the rapid rise of solar, wind and electrification, leaving infrastructure unfit for purpose.
Both transmission and distribution are affected. Large interconnectors are oversubscribed, but local networks, where electric vehicles and heat pumps increasingly connect, are equally congested. Operators often have no choice but to curtail renewable output to prevent overloads.
Consequences for energy transition and economy
The implications are stark. Delays threaten Europe’s decarbonisation pathway and waste generated clean power, undermining the credibility of climate targets aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. Grid congestion also creates inefficiencies that inflate costs for consumers. Regional inequalities risk deepening, with less developed areas waiting longer for connections and investment. In early 2025, blackouts in the Iberian Peninsula highlighted how fragile the system can be when supply growth outpaces grid readiness.
Investor confidence is another casualty. If projects are locked in limbo for years, capital may shift to regions where infrastructure is more responsive, jeopardising Europe’s competitiveness in clean energy industries.
Policy and reform under discussion
European policymakers have started to recognise the urgency. An EU Action Plan for Grids seeks to speed up permitting and prioritise critical projects. The European Parliament has called for modernisation and smarter queue management, while the Commission has mapped key bottlenecks to direct targeted support. National regulators are also experimenting with flexibility measures and digital optimisation to make better use of existing lines.
But unresolved questions persist. The 1.7 TW backlog lumps together projects at very different stages of readiness. Distribution-level issues remain underreported compared to transmission. Financial incentives for grid operators are still poorly aligned with climate policy, and new technologies such as dynamic line rating or advanced inverters are scarcely deployed at scale.
What comes next
The grid is rapidly becoming Europe’s weakest link in the energy transition. Without accelerated investment and a fundamental rethink of planning and incentives, clean energy deployment risks stagnation. The challenge is not merely technical but political: balancing urgency with fairness, ensuring speculative projects do not block progress, and guaranteeing that all regions can share in the benefits of electrification.
For further reading on global energy grid reforms and innovative financing approaches, see IEA’s report on electricity grids.