• Europe faces a €1.2 trillion grid investment gap by 2040 as electrification, data demand and clean technologies outpace infrastructure.
• Amazon, Google, Microsoft and major industrial players are forming a unified bloc to influence grid policy, planning and financing.
• Faster connections, private capital mobilisation and regulatory reform are emerging as decisive competitiveness issues for Europe’s energy transition.

Europe’s largest electricity consumers and grid technology providers have formed a new industry body aimed at accelerating the overhaul of the continent’s power infrastructure, as grid congestion and slow connections increasingly threaten decarbonisation and industrial competitiveness.

The newly launched Green Industrial Grids Association, or GIGA, brings together more than a dozen companies with heavy electricity demand and direct exposure to grid constraints. Founding members include Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta, alongside industrial and energy firms Hitachi Energy, Siemens Energy, Linde and Metlen. Electric vehicle charging operators Electra, Fastned and Milence are also participating.

The association positions itself as a corrective to what members describe as a structural blind spot in Europe’s energy policymaking, where grid users have had limited influence over infrastructure planning despite being central to demand growth.

Grid bottlenecks collide with electrification

Electricity demand across Europe is accelerating as manufacturers electrify processes, data centres expand and consumers adopt electric vehicles and heat pumps. Yet grid development has lagged. Ageing infrastructure, fragmented planning and permitting delays have produced connection queues that now stretch years in parts of the continent.

The scale of the challenge is well documented. The International Energy Agency estimates that global grid investment must double to $600 billion a year by 2030 to align with Paris Agreement temperature pathways. By 2040, roughly 80 million kilometres of power lines will need to be built or replaced, equivalent to rebuilding today’s entire global grid.

In Europe alone, the European Commission has calculated that €1.2 trillion in electricity grid investment will be required by 2040 to meet climate neutrality and economic growth objectives.

An industry-led policy push

GIGA says it will provide policymakers and regulators with technical expertise grounded in members’ operational experience, particularly on grid access, planning and system modernisation. A central goal is closer collaboration between regulators, grid operators and industrial energy users so that infrastructure build-out aligns with where demand is actually emerging.

The association will also advocate for faster deployment of existing technologies to relieve congestion on current networks, including Grid Enhancing Technologies, flexible connection agreements and targeted incentives. Mobilising third-party financing for grid modernisation is another priority, as is reforming grid connection queues to replace first-come-first-served systems with allocation based on project readiness.

“Europe’s energy transition will only succeed if our grids evolve with the same speed and scale as industrial electrification and digital innovation,” said GIGA chair Matt Ersin, who is also senior director at Fastned. “Through GIGA, industry is providing a shared vision for a competitive and decarbonised Europe, and a commitment to supporting the policies and investments that make it possible.”

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Policy timing and political stakes

The launch comes as EU institutions debate how to translate ambition into delivery. The Commission recently tabled a European Grids Package aimed at improving cross-border planning, streamlining permitting and reducing project delivery costs. The proposals must still be negotiated by the European Parliament and Council before becoming law.

For grid developers and energy users, the outcome has direct financial implications. Delayed connections can stall billions of euros in private investment, while constrained grids risk pushing energy-intensive activity out of Europe altogether.

What executives and investors should watch

For C-suite leaders, grid access is becoming a strategic risk alongside power pricing and carbon exposure. GIGA’s formation signals growing willingness among major corporates to coordinate their policy engagement rather than pursue bilateral solutions.

For investors, the association’s focus on third-party financing and anticipatory investment points to expanding opportunities across grid equipment, digital optimisation and infrastructure capital, provided regulatory frameworks allow returns to materialise.

More broadly, Europe’s ability to modernise its grids will shape whether electrification delivers on its promise of lower emissions without eroding competitiveness. By inserting industrial demand directly into the policy debate, GIGA is betting that faster grids, not just more renewables, will determine the pace of the energy transition.

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