Von der Leyen Calls for Electrifying Europe's Future, Doubling Electricity Share by 2040

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 16, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her 2026 State of the European Union address to the European Parliament that the EU will further accelerate permitting and grid connection for energy projects and continue to cut administrative procedures for project development. The European Commission is prepared to propose further approval acceleration measures on top of the existing 12 Omnibus simplification packages, while requiring member states to reduce additional administrative requirements introduced during the implementation of EU regulations.

Energy prices were listed as an industrial competitiveness issue in this State of the Union address. Von der Leyen said Europe has reduced its dependence on Russian fossil fuels through diversifying gas supplies and increasing investment in renewable energy and nuclear power, but risks in imported energy remain. Since the conflict related to the Strait of Hormuz began, the EU has spent about 90 billion euros in additional fossil fuel import costs, while the corresponding energy import volumes have not increased. The European Commission therefore plans to continue increasing domestic supply from renewable energy, nuclear power, biomethane and other energy sources.

The European Commission is advancing efforts to increase the share of electricity in final energy consumption, with a plan to roughly double electricity's share in final energy consumption to about 46% by 2040. The Commission estimates that if this level is reached, the EU could reduce fossil fuel import spending by about 260 billion euros per year. In 2025, the EU added more than 80 GW of new renewable energy capacity, but the power generation capacity currently waiting for grid connection is about six times that newly added scale. Von der Leyen called for accelerating investment in transmission and distribution grids, shortening grid connection cycles and expanding energy storage construction.

Grid expansion already has a policy framework to support it. In December 2025, the European Commission released the European Grids Package and established the Energy Highways mechanism, focusing on resolving cross-border transmission bottlenecks, building grid capacity in advance and shortening the connection cycle for new energy and new loads. The Electrification Action Plan released in July 2026 further identifies industry, transport and buildings as key areas for increasing electrification rates, and proposes reducing network charges for some users, expanding smart meter deployment and adjusting the structure of energy taxes and fees.

Energy security policy will also extend to the supply of critical raw materials. Von der Leyen said Europe's dependence on China for various critical raw materials exceeds 80%, and for some rare earth materials reaches 90%. The EU plans to establish a European Corporation of Critical Raw Materials to carry out joint procurement of raw materials, supply cooperation and strategic reserve building, so as to reduce single-source dependence in clean energy, manufacturing and other industrial supply chains.

The European Commission also plans to publish a new climate resilience framework in October, identifying 100 regions in Europe with the highest climate risks and assessing the adaptation measures that different levels need to undertake. The policy scope will cover infrastructure and technologies such as drought-resistant agriculture, flood control, buildings and urban cooling, and will also establish a climate insurance alliance, with a separate European heat response plan to be proposed.

The EU has already implemented the Affordable Energy Action Plan, the Electrification Action Plan and the European Grids Package. The new policy milestones in the September 16 State of the Union address include further shortening the approval cycle for energy projects, requiring member states to reduce additional administrative procedures, advancing joint procurement and reserve mechanisms for critical raw materials, and launching a new climate resilience framework in October.