Brussels to tackle eight energy bottlenecks in bid to stabilise prices

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The European Commission will bring forward measures to ease cross-border constraints in Europe’s energy system, with the stated aim of allowing electricity to move more freely across the bloc and limiting price spikes. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlined the plan in Brussels on Tuesday, 16 September.

Although Brussels has not yet published a definitive list of the eight constrained sites, the examples cited by von der Leyen point to long-recognised pinch points. The Pyrenees have historically limited power exchange between Spain and France; the Øresund area sits on a major Nordic-continental interface; the Sicilian Canal is central to North–South flows in the central Mediterranean; and the Trans-Balkan corridor is a key axis in South-East Europe’s gas-to-power and renewables integration. Addressing these locations would align with existing regional planning exercises and with the EU’s objective of deeper market integration through enhanced interconnection.

The Pyrenees mountain range seen from Toulouse. Source: Wikipedia