Europe’s energy landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. The rapid growth of the renewable generation, demand electrification and new flexible demand (“loads”), such as heat pumps and charging stations for electric vehicles has placed significant strain on Europe’s power grids. To address these challenges, the European Grid Action Plan – launched by the European Commission in November 2023 – outlines measures to accelerate grid development and integration of renewables. Under Action 6, DSO Entity and ENTSO-E are tasked to establish a pan-EU overview of available grid hosting capacities. This will improve visibility on available grid capacity helping developers to plan renewables, storage, EV charging and/or other relevant projects.
Accordingly, in July 2024, DSO Entity & ENTSO-E launched a joint task force (JTF) for Grid Hosting Capacities, composed of experts of DSO Entity and ENTSO-E from various Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and Distribution System Operators (DSOs) across the EU. The goal is to establish a comprehensive, pan-European overview of grid hosting capacities to be jointly developed by the DSO Entity and ENTSO-E into a single Portal that allows users to easily navigate to relevant national websites. This Portal will showcase the current status of each country’s grid hosting capacity, providing also clarity on the information for all stakeholder.
Vision and Objectives
DSO Entity & ENTSO-E have joined forces in a collaborative effort to to gather key information essential for understanding grid hosting capacity in different EU Member States. This marks an important first step towards providing additional visibility and clarity on grid hosting capacity definitions on a pan-EU level.
Further details on the initiative’s objectives and deliverables were presented during the 11th Energy Infrastructure Forum and can be found here.
The planned DSO Entity and ENTSO-E Joint Portal on Grid Hosting Capacities (Portal) will play a key role in providing a pan-EU overview on the grid hosting capacity, helping developers of renewable energy, storage solutions, and emerging loads such as EV charging stations. The portal will enable clear and transparent descriptions on grid hosting capacity information along with links to national pages where portal users can access to the original information of the relevant country and/or system operator, supporting steering of capacity available for connections.
Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement
The JTF developed this initiative in close collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including the European Commission (EC), the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), and key EU-level associations and organizations.
These stakeholders represent industries such as wind and solar development, electric vehicle charging, energy storage, as well as NGOs and research institutions.
The JTF work has been enriched by valuable insights from various stakeholders throughout the process through the stakeholder webinars held in March, May and October.
Timeline and Next Steps
As outlined in the timeline, this joint effort to collect and clarify published hosting capacity information will contribute to the publication of the Portal by Q2.
For more information, please contact info@entsoe.eu or info@eudsoentity.eu.