CurrENT Europe

📢 CurrENT’s Q1 2026 Newsletter is out! From policy to practice, this quarter we: 🔹 Published our position paper on the Grids Package  🔹 Launched our 2026 DSO Innovation Briefing Series (with two sessions already completed)  🔹 Hosted a workshop on Dynamic Line Rating adoption in Europe  Make sure to check out the latest updates and achievements from our members, driving innovation in the grid from the ground. 👉 Find the link to the full newsletter in the comments below.  👉 And make sure to subscribe to keep up to date with future updates in the sector. 

⚡ EU’s energy and climate targets depend on investing in more efficient grids CurrENT Europe has contributed to the European Commission’s call for evidence and consultation on the update of the Governance Regulation on the Energy Union and Climate Action. ➡️ Our key message is that grid optimisation via innovative grid technologies must come before costly expansion. Innovative grid technologies can rapidly increase capacity, improve resilience, and reduce overall system costs while supporting the integration of renewables in a more efficient way. For this reason, we call for a Governance Regulation that:  🔹 Ensures consistent application of the Energy Efficiency First principle across Member States;  🔹 Prioritises optimisation of existing grids before costly expansion (NOVA principle);  🔹 Strengthens reporting on how efficiency is assessed in infrastructure planning;  🔹 Promotes the use of smart grid indicators to guide cost-effective investment decisions;  🔹 Reinforces a long-term planning approach aligned with climate neutrality by 2050. This will help unlock grid capacity faster, reduce system costs, support competitiveness, and ensure that energy needs are met across Europe.  👇 Read our full contribution below

🔌 DSO Innovation Briefing | Dynamic Line Rating Across Europe, the mass uptake of renewables is outpacing available grid capacity, creating an urgent need to optimize both existing and new infrastructure. Innovative, market-ready solutions already exist to unlock new capacity quickly.  To help bridge the gap between innovation and implementation, CurrENT invites you to our DSO Innovation Briefing series, educational sessions designed specifically for Distribution System Operators. Each session delivers a technical framework to scale proven grid technologies and accelerate infrastructure upgrades. 🎯 Session Focus: Dynamic Line Rating This session explores Dynamic Line Rating’s capability and maturity compared to traditional assets with Nabil Khouya from Ampacimon, Marco Rettig from Prisma Photonics and Gunnar Vist from Heimdall Power. Dynamic Line Rating uses real-time data, including weather conditions and line temperature, to determine the maximum safe capacity of electricity lines. Whether utilizing sensor-less weather data, on-conductor sensors, or optical ground wire technology, DLR can be strategically deployed to: 🔹 Increase overall grid capacity   🔹 Reduce congestion cost  🔹 Strengthen overall network stability margins  🔹 Ensure safety and stability of functionning line  🔹 Real-Time situational awareness    📅 Date: 26th March  🕒 Time: 15:00 - 16:30 CET  🔗 Registration link in the comment below 

Delivering Europe’s energy transition: Why the Grids Package must enable innovation Our recent visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg offered a front-row seat to the future of Europe’s energy landscape and a chance to engage directly with policymakers on the backbone of our transition: the electricity grid. 🔌 Bridging the Gap on the Grids Package During the visit, we exchanged insights with Members of the European Parliament on the Grids Package. This legislative framework is the biggest opportunity for Europe’s energy autonomy and the resilience of our entire electricity system. CurrENT welcomes the overall direction of the Grids Package, especially its focus on optimising the grid, using non-wire solutions, and strengthening EU-level planning. To ensure a cost-efficient, resilient, and future-ready electricity system, the package should consistently consider all grid-enhancing technologies in planning, evaluation, and implementation. This was the occasion to present our Position Paper on the TEN-E revision. Specifically, we proposed: 🔹 Improve the definitions of non-wire solutions to include all innovative grid solutions 🔹 Mandate innovation integration in the TEN-E framework 🔹Always consider best available technologies in grid development 🔹 Integrate electricity network losses into the TEN-E methodology 🔹 Accelerate monitoring to keep grid development future-proof You can find our Position Paper in the comment below 👇

🚀 CurrENT is hiring a Communications and Events trainee 🚀 Interested in joining a dynamic team to advocate for sustainable, secure and competitive electricity grids? It’s your moment! We’re a small team with a big mission, and we’re looking for a #CommunicationTrainee to contribute to communication strategies and event planning to drive change in the electricity sector. We believe electricity grids are the backbone of the energy transition. To speed it up, we raise awareness, push for smarter policies, support innovation, and engage with stakeholders. Your responsibilities as a Trainee will include: 💡 Communications: social media (LinkedIn, MailChimp), webpage maintenance, preparation of newsletters.  💡Events: Organizing webinars on behalf of CurrENT and representing CurrENT at external events. 💡Monitoring upcoming relevant events, policy developments and organizing meetings with stakeholders. 💡Support the Secretariat with other tasks necessary for the day-to-day management of a growing energy association. What we offer: ⚡ A full-time, 6 months, ‘convention d'immersion professionnelle’ (CIP) contract that is remunerated accordingly; ⚡Access to a co-working space in the European district of Brussels; ⚡Opportunity to build a network with other professionals in the energy sector and in EU Affairs; ⚡Develop your professional skills through regular feedback and coaching.     Starting date for the traineeship is mid-April 2026.     If you are interested, please send your C.V. (maximum two pages) and a one-page motivation letter with the subject title “CurrENT Traineeship” to info@CurrENTeurope.eu by Close of Business Thursday 12 March.   You can find the full details of the offer in the comments. #Hiring #Traineeship #Energy #Communications

👏 Congratulations to the rapporteurs and shadows appointed to negotiate on the Grids Package at the European Parliament!  The Grids Package will be the most important piece of legislation for our grids in the next decade. The resilience, security, and affordability of our networks depend on this file. 👉 CurrENT Europe is looking forward to this discussion as we advocate for:  🔹 A clear definition for grid enhancing technologies that include wire and non-wire solutions;   🔹 A TEN-E revision that pushes Member States to integrate innovative grid technologies in their planning exercises and needs assessments;   🔹 A text that prioritizes optimization before reinforcement, before expansion (also known as the NOVA principle);   🔹 A regulation that provides a clear monitoring framework for non-wire solutions.  Niels Fuglsang | Tsvetelina Penkova | Anna Stürgkh | Prof. Dr. Andrea Wechsler | Michael Bloss | Ondřej Krutílek | Virgil Daniel Popescu Ampacimon | APAR Industries Limited | AssetCool | CTC Global | De Angeli Prodotti S.r.l. | Enertechnos | Epsilon Composite | GRIDPULSE d.o.o. | Heimdall Power | Hivoduct | Lamifil nv | Lindsey Systems | Magtech AS | MetOx International | Nexans | Plexigrid | primtech | Prisma Photonics | Reactive Technologies Limited | Suprema | Smart Wires Inc. | SuperNode Ltd | VEIR | #InnovativeGridTechnologies #GridsPackage #Innovation #EnergyTransition

🔌 DSO Innovation Briefing | Advanced Power Flow Control (APFC) Across Europe, the mass uptake of renewables is outpacing available grid capacity, creating an urgent need to optimize both existing and new infrastructure. Innovative, market-ready solutions already exist to unlock new capacity quickly. To help bridge the gap between innovation and implementation, CurrENT Europe invites you to our DSO Innovation Briefing series, educational sessions designed specifically for Distribution System Operators. Each session delivers a technical framework to scale proven grid technologies and accelerate infrastructure upgrades. 🎯 Session Focus: #AdvancedPowerFlowControl (APFC) This session explores Advanced Power Flow Control’s capability and maturity compared to traditional assets. Advanced Power Flow Control has many use cases but is used as a digital "traffic controller" for the grid actively directing electrical power in a region, using modular hardware. Beyond immediate bottleneck relief, the technology can be strategically deployed to: 🔹 Accelerate the connection of generation or datacenters 🔹 Extend network outages 🔹 Facilitate the integration of HVDC circuits 🔹 Extend the lifespan of legacy power factor equipment 🔹Strengthen overall network stability margins   📅 Date: 4th March  🕒 Time: 15:00 - 16:30 CET 🔗 Registration link in the comment below #AdvancedPowerFlowControl #Grids #DistributionSystemOperators

⚡ IEA shows grid innovation can improve resilience but needs to be incentivized  The State of Energy Innovation report 2026 published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that scale-up of innovative grid technologies is not negotiable.  Without innovation, our ageing grid infrastructure will be exposed to rising challenges such as extreme weather, cyber-attacks, and flexible demand.  IEA recommends governments to:   🔹 Raise the incentives to adopt non-traditional technologies via performance-based regulation and procurement with a technological neutral approach;   🔹 Establish rules and environments to demonstrate technical effectiveness of these technologies;   🔹 Cooperation and collaboration between countries and stakeholders;   🔹 Harmonized data and communication standards.  👉 Regulatory frameworks need to adjust to the changing climate, geopolitical, and technological environment to enhance grid resilience for a strong, cost-effective, and competitive energy system.  Ampacimon | APAR Industries Limited | AssetCool | CTC Global | De Angeli Prodotti S.r.l. | Enertechnos | Epsilon Composite | GRIDPULSE d.o.o. | Hivoduct | Lamifil nv | Lindsey Systems | Magtech AS | MetOx International | Nexans | Plexigrid | primtech | Prisma Photonics | Reactive Technologies Limited | Suprema | Smart Wires Inc. | SuperNode Ltd | VEIR | #InnovativeGridTechnologies #EUenergy #Grids

⚠️ Save the date! CurrENT member Ampacimon is hosting an online webinar to showcase how utilities can mitigate risk, unlock hidden capacity, and operate their networks with confidence using high‑certainty #DLR solutions backed by real‑world field experience. 🗓️When? Tuesday 10 March, 7pm CET 📌 Where? Online Don’t miss your chance to get key insights from experts on the topic. Register now! https://lnkd.in/e-m8Qwxy #Webinar #DynamicLineRating #EUenergy

“Innovation is about industrialising what we have” is one message from Luis Vale Cunha from E-REDES that stood out clearly at today’s E.DSO 2nd #FutureGridInnovationSummit. Innovation in the electricity grid sector is no longer about pilots alone, it’s about scaling, operationalising, and making solutions deliver real system value. Throughout the discussions, several key themes emerged: 🔹 Financing for DSOs is critical. As highlighted by Johan Mörnstam, it’s not only about digitalising the grid, it’s about building optimise, future-proof infrastructure. Investment frameworks must match the scale of the transformation. 🔹 Resilience, competitiveness, and digitalisation go together. As noted by Georgios Ioannides, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic Cyprus to the European Union, and Piotr Szymanski, Director, Energy, Mobility and Climate, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, keeping the lights on in a decarbonised system requires robust digital foundations. 🔹 Rewarding positive outcomes as Ricardo Loureiro emphasised, should be embedded in regulatory frameworks to accelerate impact-driven innovation. It was also great to see the keynote from Alberto Méndez Rebollo, CEO of Plexigrid, one of our members. Plexigrid is demonstrating how digital solutions can fundamentally transform grid operation. Ampacimon | APAR Industries Limited | AssetCool | CTC Global | De Angeli Prodotti S.r.l. | Enertechnos | Epsilon Composite | GRIDPULSE d.o.o. | Heimdall Power | Hivoduct | Lamifil nv | Lindsey Systems | Magtech AS | MetOx International | Nexans | Plexigrid | Primtech Limited |Prisma Photonics | Reactive Technologies Limited | Suprema | Smart Wires Inc. | SuperNode Ltd | VEIR | #Grids #InnovativeGridTechnologies #GridsPackage #FutureGridInnovationSummit