According to the information, the leaked content of the draft of the “Electricity Plan” that is about to be officially released shows that the European Commission will set a target of achieving 200 gigawatts of energy storage capacity by 2030 to meet the flexibility regulation requirements of the energy system. And promoting the implementation of the vehicle-grid interaction (V2G) solution is one of the core measures to be introduced in this upcoming plan.
This target figure covering all types of energy storage technologies was derived from a special analysis conducted by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the 27 EU member states. The statistical scope included both short-term and long-term energy storage, but excluded small batteries and user-side batteries.
As of the beginning of this year, the total installed capacity of energy storage in the European Union was 55 gigawatts. Among them, the share of pumped hydro storage, which is a traditional technology route, exceeded 80%, while the battery energy storage system for grid level (BESS) sector is currently in a stage of rapid expansion.
The document indicates that the member states of the European Union, energy storage and renewable energy developers and manufacturers, industrial electricity consumers, the European Commission and financial institutions reached a consensus at the end of last month: during the period from 2026 to 2028, an additional 30 to 35 gigawatts of fixed energy storage power capacity will be installed.
The European Commission plans to use this action plan as the basis document for subsequent legislation, but at present, the draft does not set a target for the total electrification volume by 2040.
It is claimed that the draft refers to the recent energy crisis and points out that this is the second concentrated outbreak of the risk of EU’s reliance on fossil energy within five years, with the additional costs amounting to 50 billion euros.
A European Commission official stated that promoting the electrification of transportation, construction, and industrial production will lay the foundation for replacing two-thirds of the demand for natural gas and half of the demand for oil by 2040, corresponding to a reduction of 200 billion euros in energy expenditures. In other words, by 2040, the electrification transformation in these three areas can reduce the EU’s fossil fuel import bill by 200 billion euros.
The current electrification process of the European Union has significantly lagged behind that of its major global competitors. Professor Jan Rosenow from the University of Oxford’s Energy and Climate Policy Department pointed out: “Over the past decade, the share of electricity in Europe’s final energy consumption has remained almost stagnant, currently at 23%, essentially the same as it was ten years ago; while in China, South Korea, and Japan, this share has exceeded 30%, and the gap is rapidly widening.”
He added in his personal industry newsletter that the EU plans to introduce mandatory regulations on vehicle-to-grid (V2G) for new electric vehicles by the end of 2027, including unified interoperability standards. Additionally, the EU also plans to incorporate other types of small battery systems, manufacturing plants, and other controllable resources into the power flexibility regulation system.
According to EV Infrastructure News, the EU will also submit a proposal for VAT reduction for electric vehicles and simultaneously introduce non-fiscal support policies. The report adds that the EU will conduct a special assessment on the feasibility of “strengthening the target for zero-emission vehicle proportion in public procurement areas”.
Heat pumps and household energy storage battery systems have also been included in the scope of VAT reduction considerations. In addition, the EU will provide support for technological innovations in areas such as small modular reactors (SMRs), hydrogen energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS, which includes the recycling utilization process as CCUS).