The European energy and climate change targets for 2020 and beyond require a major acceleration of the development and deployment of cost-effective low-carbon energy technologies, as proposed in the SET Plan. A single, stronger and smarter European electricity grid will have a central role to accommodate the resulting massive deployment of renewable and decentralised energy sources.

The European Electricity Grid Initiative (EEGI) proposes a 9-year European research, development and demonstration (RD&D) programme initiated by electricity transmission and distribution network operators to accelerate innovation and the development of the electricity networks of the future in Europe, a so-called Smart Grid. The Smart Grid will be a user-centred, market-based, interactive, reliable, flexible, and sustainable electrical network system. Its deployment will start progressively over the period from 2010 to 2030 and result in benefits such as:

• Increased hosting capacity for renewable and distributed sources of electricity;
• The integration of national networks into a market-based, truly pan-European network;
• A high level of quality of electricity supply to all customers;
• The active participation of users in markets and energy efficiency;
• The anticipation of new developments such as a progressive electrification of transport;
• An economically efficient deployment of future networks, for the benefit of grid users;
• The opening of business opportunities and markets for new players in the smart grids arena.