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More than \u20ac100 billion of renewables are stuck in Europe\u2019s outdated energy grid, as communities across the continent wait years for solar panels and heat pumps.<\/p>\n
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A new report by consulting group AFRY, commissioned by non-profit Beyond Fossil Fuels, found that a staggering 375 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy<\/a> projects and 455 GW of battery storage projects are trapped in distribution grid queues across the continent. <\/p>\n To put that into perspective, a power plant that operates continuously throughout the year with a capacity of 1GW could power approximately 876,000 households annually, based on average consumption figures from Carbon Collective<\/a>. <\/p>\n Without intervention, the report \u2013 which analyses Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Great Britain \u2013 warns that Europe risks \u201cdeepening\u201d its reliance on volatile fossil fuels.<\/p>\n Despite Europe\u2019s renewable boom, which saved the EU \u20ac51 billion last year<\/a> by lowering oil and gas imports, almost a third (29 per cent) of the bloc\u2019s electricity mix still comes from fossil fuels. <\/p>\n Europe\u2019s energy grid is \u2018stalling\u2019 the green transition<\/p>\n Experts argue that connection queues for renewable and storage projects are becoming more congested, \u201cstalling\u201d the energy transition and “weakening” Europe\u2019s competitiveness.<\/p>\n \u201cAs fossil fuels continue to fail us, distribution system operators (DSOs) need to keep up with the pace of the transition to cleaner energy to protect Europe\u2019s energy security and improve affordability for consumers,\u201d says Duygu Kutluay, a campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout governance and operational reforms, Europe\u2019s renewable potential will be stifled, not for lack of ambition or investment, but due to constraints in the very networks meant to deliver it.\u201d<\/p>\n Europe\u2019s energy grid was originally built around coal, and later gas, which tends to operate from centrally located plants. However, green energy such as wind and solar<\/a> farms tends to be located in remote areas \u2013 including offshore \u2013 making it harder for DSOs, who transport the electricity being produced to residential homes and businesses. <\/p>\n The bloc\u2019s proposed European Grids Package, which was presented by the European Commission in 2025, aims to tackle this \u2013 pledging \u20ac1.2 trillion in grid investments by 2040, along with more than 500 GW of new renewables capacity.<\/p>\n The package also includes strategic \u201cenergy highways\u201d that will address eight key bottlenecks across Europe, which the Commission says represent the \u201cmost urgent energy infrastructure needs\u201d. <\/p>\n This includes connecting electricity across the Pyrenees to better integrate the Iberian Peninsula, ending electricity isolation between Cyprus and continental Europe, and strengthening the electricity interconnection of the Baltic States to boost energy independence from Russia.<\/p>\n However, Beyond Fossil Fuels argues that the proposed package doesn\u2019t fully address key distribution-level bottlenecks and \u201ccould go further\u201d in strengthening target measures that support DSOs. <\/p>\n \u201cIn today\u2019s European energy transition context, the value of new gigawatts increasingly depends on the ability to connect them, move them, and balance them,\u201d says Chiara Natalicchio, a senior consultant at AFRY.<\/p>\n \u201cNetworks\u2014across both transmission and distribution\u2014are the critical enabler: they ultimately decide whether new resources translate into usable value in a power system that is becoming more electrified, more distributed, and more volatile.\u201d<\/p>\n Europeans waiting years for clean energy<\/p>\n In Germany<\/a>, an energy community has been waiting for more than two years to connect rooftop solar across a multi-building housing complex, despite already securing investment. <\/p>\n The report says that slow digitalisation and distribution-level grid constraints are causing the delay, causing tenants\u2019 energy bills to skyrocket following the war on Iran. <\/p>\n Anna Leidreiter, Board Member of B\u00fcrgerEnergie Nord, says solar panels directly benefit people\u2019s wallets by allowing them to create their own electricity price breaks on their rooftops.<\/p>\n \u201cBut for that to happen, distribution grid operators must upgrade their IT systems and implement better administrative measures,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n \u201cFossil fuel conflicts around the world pose a threat to us. That is why we need DSOs to act quickly to connect more solar energy, not only as the energy of the future, but also as the energy of freedom and security.\u201d<\/p>\n Over in the Spanish municipality of Terrassa, grid capacity limits are preventing the roll-out of rooftop solar on public buildings and shared clean energy projects for citizens. <\/p>\n \u201cTrying to connect renewable energy projects has become an absolute obstacle course,\u201d says Pau Sales, Environmental Technician at Terrassa Municipality.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest challenge we face with distribution companies and grid access, is with their administrative systems, which are slow and difficult to navigate. Ongoing delays and barriers at the distribution-level waste both time and public money, while contributing to frustration among those committed to the energy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n