Von der Leyen calls 10 TWh green power waste "not acceptable" as EU grid bottlenecks bite
EU president's rebuke targets grid congestion as electrification drive collides with infrastructure limits.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday (2026-08-27) called the waste of 10 TWh of green power "not acceptable," putting grid bottlenecks back at the centre of the bloc's energy agenda. The remark, reported by Montel, signals mounting political frustration with renewable curtailment just as the Commission prepares to push an ambitious electrification target.7
The figure is small against the EU's roughly 2,700 TWh annual power consumption, but the symbolism is heavy. Every curtailed megawatt-hour is a direct hit on the economics of wind and solar assets, and von der Leyen's language suggests Brussels is preparing to force the issue on transmission investment.7
Her intervention lands six weeks after she told a Brussels audience that the EU's 25% electrification rate "must and will" rise, framing the shift as the core weapon against high energy prices and "overdependency" on imported fossil fuels. The Commission flagged "an ambitious target" for June, a deadline that has now passed without a formal proposal.1
The gap between ambition and physical reality is widening. The Commission's own fleet cannot make the 440-kilometre drive from Brussels to Strasbourg on a single charge, forcing commissioners into a Luxembourg service station pit stop that has become a private irritation for some in von der Leyen's circle, E&E News reported on Friday (2026-05-29).4
That anecdote captures the broader problem: policy targets assume infrastructure that does not yet exist. The 10 TWh of wasted green power is the supply-side twin of the same constraint, and it is concentrated where grids are weakest.
Central European industry has already warned that the cure could be worse than the disease. An alliance of central and eastern European energy companies told the Commission in a joint letter that restrictions on equipment from "high-risk" suppliers would delay renewable projects and deter investment, according to a Montel report from Wednesday (2026-07-08).6
Grid equipment is the binding constraint. Transformers, switchgear and cables face lead times stretching years, and any supplier diversification mandate lengthens them further. The letter's signatories argue the security-driven policy would undermine the very security it aims to protect.6
Meanwhile, the demand side is pulling in the opposite direction. Ten EU member states, led by France and Italy, have written to the Commission's energy director-general demanding nuclear be classified as clean power for data centres, escalating a fight over how the AI boom gets powered.3
That letter, dated Tuesday (2026-05-26), shows the political arithmetic shifting. Data centre load is the fastest-growing demand source on the continent, and the nuclear camp wants it recognised as compatible with green investment rules before the capacity race fully takes off.3
The numbers elsewhere put Europe's grid problem in perspective. Southeast Asia's data centres, EVs and green industrial parks are forecast to add more than 100 TWh of demand within three to four years, requiring over $200 billion of investment, with an estimated $18 billion annual shortfall in grid spending by 2035.2
Europe faces the same growth curve with an older grid and stricter investment rules. The Commission's solution, judging by von der Leyen's language, will be more electrification and more grid, but the financing mechanism remains unclear.2
Leaders at the Brussels summit on Friday (2026-06-19) restated the "essential role" of the EU emissions trading system in the transition, which at least keeps the carbon price signal intact. But the ETS does not fix congestion, and it does not build transmission lines.5
Von der Leyen's "not acceptable" gives the issue political weight. The test is whether the Commission translates that into a grid investment package with hard money attached, or whether the 10 TWh figure becomes another speech line. Traders should watch the electrification target proposal in June's follow-up documents and any movement on the nuclear-for-data-centres question, since both reshape power demand curves and, by extension, carbon and gas burn in the years ahead.7,13