Sawt Falasteen - EU seeks better Spain-France energy links after blackout

Spain and neighbouring Portugal have often accused France of dragging its feet on building infrastructure to better connect them with Europe's continental grid.

"I'm probably not offending anybody by saying that sometimes France has been somewhat reluctant to have more interconnections," Dan Jorgensen, the European Union's commissioner for energy, told a press conference in Brussels.

The commission presented Wednesday plans to speed up permitting and coordinate planning of cross-border grid projects, which it says are crucial to support the green energy transition and reduce high energy prices affecting businesses and families.

The construction of two new interconnections linking France and Spain across the Pyrenees topped a list of eight "energy highways" Brussels wants to fast track.

Other projects included an "hydrogen corridor" running from Portugal to Germany and a revamp of electricity connections across the Baltic States.

Interconnections play a central role in securing supplies, allowing countries to import or export energy according to their needs.

Teresa Ribera, the EU's vice president for the clean transition, said better exchanges were key to improving response to energy shocks across Europe.

"The more connected we are, the more possibilities we have to react," she said.

The Iberian Peninsula's grid operates as an energy island, linked to the rest of Europe only through a small number of interconnections with France -- something that was partially blamed for a slow blackout recovery in April.

Better connections are also expected to bring down energy prices -- a bugbear of European businesses -- by allowing operators to diversify supplies and reduce dependency on oil and gas, which suffer from price volatility.

Industrial electricity prices in the EU reached 0.199 euro per kWh in 2024, compared to 0.082 euro in China and 0.075 in the US, according to the commission.

"No energy security can be achieved in Europe if electricity is not able to flow freely across the continent," said Neil Makaroff, director at Strategic Perspectives, a think tank.

"Building resilient and integrated grids is the prerequisite if the EU wants to power its economy with electricity instead of gas and oil."

K.Hassan--SF-PST