Author: Ulrich Adam, director general of Orgalim, EUSEW’s partner organisation
As Europe grapples with sluggish economic growth and soaring energy costs, electrification has emerged as the linchpin for reversing industrial decline, accelerating decarbonisation, and restoring global competitiveness. In this opinion piece, Ulrich Adam, Director General of Orgalim, outlines why a bold push for electrification must be at the heart of Europe’s Clean Industrial Deal – not just to meet climate goals, but to power a resilient, innovative, and future-proof industrial base.
Europe is facing a competitiveness crisis. First estimates put annual growth for 2024 at 0.7% in the euro area and 0.8% in the EU. Compare that to 4.5% growth in China and 2.2% in the US, and it is clear that something is seriously wrong.
For Europe’s technology industries, 2024 was even worse, with a combined downturn of 4.8% across the metal technology, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering, electronics and ICT sectors. And the outlook for 2025 is not much better. Orgalim’s Economics & Statistics working group predicts a further -0.5% contraction in real turnover, with knock-on effects on employment, which is forecast to shrink by 0.9%.
High electricity prices and over-regulation are two of the main hurdles holding back European industries. Europe pays around two to three times what the US does for electricity, and between 2019 and 2024 introduced much more regulation.
So, what should Europe do to compete globally, re-establish itself as a leader in tech innovation, and meet the goals of the Green and Clean Industrial Deals? Electrify.
The double win of electrification: speed up decarbonisation, regain competitiveness
Ensuring a low-carbon, low-cost, independent energy source for Europe is key to boosting competitiveness and achieving the aims of the Green and Clean Industrial Deals.
While increasing energy efficiency and reducing overall consumption are important, electrification is the real key. It will enable Europe to massively reduce its carbon emissions while also contributing to increased independence from geopolitics and a more secure energy supply. It can also help create jobs and boost the clean-tech sector.
For example, according to a recent study by Danfoss, deploying electricity demand-side flexibility technologies on energy systems in the EU and UK could help save more than 40 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year by 2030, and achieve annual cost savings of EUR 10.5 billion.
Decarbonisation can help us grow
Introduced in February 2025, the Clean Industrial Deal aims to turn decarbonisation into a driver of growth for European industries by lowering energy prices, creating lead markets for clean tech, and providing a significant boost to public and private investments.
The Affordable Energy Action Plan is a crucial part of the Clean Industrial Deal, aiming to provide EU industry with stable energy prices, more in line with our international competitors.
A perspective from technology industries
The Action Plan’s push for electrification, digitalisation, flexibility, grid infrastructure deployment, and a single market approach for boosting energy efficiency solutions are all positive. At Orgalim, we strongly support these aims. To be successful, we need access to reliable and affordable low-carbon energy.
However, some important questions need to be clarified:
Will non-binding recommendations and guidance to member states on network charges and energy taxation be sufficient to lower bills?
Will measures for energy-intensive industry benefit the wider manufacturing sector?
These issues must be addressed if the plan is to succeed.
Reaching net zero
Europe’s technology industries are global leaders in carbon-neutral energy, electrification, and clean manufacturing technologies needed to get to net zero. But we need a secure and competitive energy supply, provided by broad-scale electrification, to achieve faster scale-up of carbon-neutral energy capacity, unlock massive energy efficiency savings, and make Europe competitive again.
This opinion editorial is produced in co-operation with the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) 2025. See ec.europa.eu/eusew for more details.
North Macedonia’s National Electricity Market Operator MEMO has issued the country’s first guarantees of origin (GOs), certificates verifying that electricity is generated from renewable energy sources. The guarantees were awarded to state power utility Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (ESM) for electricity produced from hydropower. With this step, North Macedonia joins virtually all other countries in the region, which already have GO schemes in place.
The issuance of the first guarantees of origin represents a step forward in the implementation of the green transition in North Macedonia, in line with European standards and sustainable energy development goals, said Minister of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources Sanja Božinovska, who handed over the GOs to ESM General Director Lazo Uzunčev.
Božinovska underlined that the GOs would help create a transparent and sustainable energy market in the country.
Earlier this year, MEMO adopted the rules for administering guarantees of origin for electricity in line with the Law on Energy, the guarantees of origin decree, and the standards of the Association of Issuing Bodies (AIB), a Brussels-based organization that standardizes GOs. The operator is responsible for managing the GO registry and issuing and revoking GOs.
MEMO’s GO rules will ensure full acceptance in the European market
The rules are also harmonized with the principles of the European Energy Certificate System (EECS) and will ensure full acceptance in the European market, MEMO said in a press release.
More companies are joining the GO registry
Zoran Gjorgjievski, MEMO’s CEO, said that a large number of other companies are already in the process of joining the GO registry. “As the responsible operator, we are actively working on issuing, recording, and recognizing them,” he stressed.
The management of ESM emphasized that the company is continuing its efforts to increase electricity production from renewable sources, including the construction of new wind farms and photovoltaic power plants, for which it also plans to obtain GOs.
A BESS facility of 124.1 MW in operating power was inaugurated in Lovech in Bulgaria. Located next to a photovoltaic park within Balkan Industrial Park, it is part of the country’s first closed licensed power distribution system.
The Bulgarian city of Lovech, northeast of Sofia, hosts the strongest battery energy storage system (BESS) in the Balkans. The Ministry of Energy even said the new facility, with a capability of 124.1 MW and 496.4 MWh in capacity, is the biggest in the European Union.
It is located in the local industrial zone, which also features a photovoltaic park of 106.2 MW in peak capacity and an 86.2 MW connection. The energy systems are part of Bulgaria’s first and only closed licensed distribution network.
Balkan Industrial Zone, with the solar power plant and BESS facility, is controlled by brothers Kiril and Georgi Domuschiev. The two entrepreneurs intend to charge the batteries when the price of electricity is low and use them in peak periods.
Developer won subsidy at tender for standalone energy storage systems
The investment in the energy storage facility, worth EUR 75 million, was conducted by Advance Green Energy. Notably, last month, at the RESTORE tender for standalone BESS, the company won a EUR 29.6 million government subsidy for a EUR 45.5 million project.
The construction took only six months. The facility, which is marking a new stage in Bulgaria’s infrastructure development, consists of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) devices in 16 modules.
Lovech Mayor Stratsimir Petkov claimed the BESS is the fifth-biggest in the world. He said it would contribute to the development of the industrial park.
Minister Stankov wants 10 GWh of batteries online by end of next year
At the inauguration, Minister of Energy Zhecho Stankov stressed that the investment is a step toward reaching 10 GWh in operating battery storage capacity by the end of next year. He added it is significant for flexibility, predictability and balancing of the electricity system in Bulgaria.
“The facility, built from 111 battery containers on the territory of Lovech, will help Bulgaria’s energy system remain the most stable in the region. We are the pillar in the Balkans and in Southeastern Europe that balances electricity systems and we have proven this with actions,” the minister stated. BESS guarantee system security and price stability for households and businesses, providing affordable energy, Stankov asserted.
The solar park of two units, operating since May 2023, is one of the biggest in Bulgaria. The investment was worth EUR 51.2 million. The PV system spans almost 72 hectares, while the industrial park has 131.5 hectares.
In another recent update relevant for the future of the country’s energy storage sector, Stankov revealed there is a third pumped storage hydropower project under development. The sites are in the Rhodope mountains.
North Macedonia is negotiating a strategic project to build two hydropower plants, Čebren and Galište, in an investment estimated at EUR 1.2 to 1.3 billion, according to Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski. A tender for building the Čebren pumped storage hydropower plant was annulled by the previous government in early 2024.
The country intends to finance the construction of the two hydropower plants with a loan from the United Kingdom, the prime minister said. He indicated that funding has been secured for several government projects, partly through loans and partly through private investments, according to a statement by the Government of North Macedonia.
The Čebren and Galište project could be financed from a British loan
In the previous tender, the Čebren hydroelectric project was planned to have a capacity of 333 MW, with an option for another unit and 458 MW in total.
In early 2024, the former government annulled the tender, in which Greece-based Public Power Corp. (PPC) and Archirodon were selected for the Čebren project. The authorities said at the time that they would analyze whether it would be more profitable to build Čebren with the state’s own funds or with the help of strategic investors.
A few months ago, Minister of Energy, Mining and Minerals Sanja Božinovska said projects were under development for battery energy storage systems (BESS) and pumped storage hydropower plants.
The project will last several decades, Mickoski says
Addressing the parliament today, Mickoski described the project as strategic, adding that it would not be completed during this government’s term of office. “This is a project that will last several decades,” he said. The funding will be provided through low-interest loans as a state investment, and the rest under market terms and through direct private investment, according to Mickoski.
The prime minister is also confident that the two proposed reservoirs could provide additional water for irrigation amid future climate change impacts and help boost tourism development in the area.
The Attica-Crete subsea power interconnector has been put into trial operation, marking a milestone for Greece’s transmission system. The country now has a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection, and its largest island is fully integrated into the national electricity system, according to an announcement by the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO or Admie).
The Ariadne subsea power interconnector entered into operation on May 24 with the successful transfer of direct current electricity, said IPTO, whose subsidiary Ariadne implemented the project. The trial operation phase is expected to last throughout the summer, IPTO added.
The two submarine power links have ended Crete’s electrical isolation
Combined with the existing interconnection via the Peloponnese peninsula, the new cable has completely ended Crete’s electrical isolation, making it an energy hub with significant environmental and economic benefits for the country and the local community, according to IPTO.
The first power link between Crete and the mainland is the 174-kilometer alternating current (AC) cable linking the island with the Peloponnese. It was completed in 2021, following an investment of EUR 380 million.
The EUR 1.1 billion Ariadne interconnector is among the deepest in the world
The Ariadne interconnector, which cost over EUR 1.1 billion to build, is one of the deepest subsea power cables in the world. It consists of two 500 kV cables of 500 MW each, laid at depths of up to 1,200 meters. The construction lasted 4.5 years.
Greek Minister of Environment and Energy Stavros Papastavrou stated that the new power link has made Crete a “central pillar in the country’s energy transition,” and IPTO CEO Manos Manousakis claimed it is opening “a new chapter for the island’s energy security.”
The project was co-financed through the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF 2014-2020 and NSRF 2021-2027), via the European Union, with up to EUR 535.5 million.
IPTO recalled that the project consisted of many large subprojects, with contractors including Siemens, Terna, Nexans, Prysmian, NKT, and Hellenic Cables.
Energy transition in Southeastern Europe is accelerating, and the progress depends on individual countries’ strategies and legal frameworks. At the Belgrade Energy Forum (BEF 2025), representatives of state-owned power utilities and private producers discussed the different approaches to decarbonization. The domination of investments in renewable energy is unquestionable, but there are also ambitions to develop nuclear capacities, spearheaded by Slovenia. The country is already operating one nuclear reactor and is developing a project for another one.
The electricity sector in Southeast Europe still depends for a large part on thermal power plants that burn fossil fuels. In 2023, they accounted for 43% of overall output, of which two-thirds were from lignite and the rest from gas. There is a need for accelerated decarbonization, and the speed of the transition will depend on financial possibilities and the political will and decisions, said the panel’s moderator and Director of Zagreb-based Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar Dražen Jakšić.
The acceleration trend in decarbonization is also evident in the electricity market projections for the region until 2030. The plans for the period until the end of the decade include shutting down 6.2 GW of thermal power plant capacity and installing 42.3 GW from renewable sources. Greece, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria are expected to add the most.
Top executives of state-owned utilities in Serbia, Slovenia and Montenegro and independent power producers that invest in renewables in the region gathered at a panel called Decarbonisation strategies for power generation in Southeast Europe 2040/2050 at Belgrade Energy Forum 2025.
They agreed that decarbonization is well underway and an unstoppable process already speeding up significantly. The participants in the discussion presented the different strategies their companies will act upon in the following years and decades, leading the process to fulfilment.
Among the messages that they shared is that they expect each government to promote investments and make the legal framework clear and certain, while the countries strengthen their ties and exchange experiences. Green energy is the pillar of the energy transition and decarbonization in the region, but several states are also interested in building their first nuclear power plants—conventional ones or small modular reactors (SMRs)—or expanding the existing capacity.
EPS’s Živković: Decarbonization requires energy storage, nuclear plants
Chief Executive Officer of Serbia’s Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) Dušan Živković pointed out that the state-controlled electricity producer is committed to its goals regarding green energy and emission reductions as well as to the country’s targets. “We will work on that, of course, believing in these objectives, but without compromising energy security and the energy sovereignty of Serbia. It was proven to be the only sustainable path,” he asserted.
The company particularly counts on the project for solar power plants with a total connection capacity of 1 GW, with batteries of 200 MW in combined capability. The investment is conducted through a strategic partnership with Hyundai Engineering and UGT Renewables (UGTR).
A study is underway in Serbia on the potential for the construction of large nuclear power plants and small modular reactors
The decarbonization process won’t be easily feasible without serious energy storage capacity, Živković warned and added that nuclear energy wouldn’t be unrealistic. A study is underway on the possibilities of building large nuclear plants and small modular reactors in Serbia.
The head of EPS expressed the belief that “the quality of that energy needs to be visualized” for citizens of every country and that they should be explained that it is necessary to provide energy for the economy and its security.
CEOs Dejan Paravan of GEN energija, Dušan Živković of EPS and Eric Scotto of Akuo
No dilemma in Serbia about energy transition
Country Manager of WV-International in Serbia Neda Lazendić highlighted the said strategic partnership for solar power plants with battery energy storage systems (BESS), saying Hyundai Engineering is a world-renowned company.
In her view, the endeavor will be a milestone for the entire region and it is exceptionally important for gaining experience at the domestic level.
The recent second round of auctions for electricity from renewable sources showed that Serbia opted for the energy transition “and there is not any dilemma about it anymore,” Lazendić stressed and said the country is an example for the region. The prices from the bidding that were accepted are appealing and they match European trends, she noted.
Country Manager of WV-International Neda Lazendić
Lignite is highly unprofitable
Slovenia and GEN energija, one of the state-owned power utilities, are relying on both renewable sources and nuclear energy in their decarbonization investments, the company’s CEO Dejan Paravan pointed out.
“We want to get rid of coal as soon as possible. And in the short term, renewables are the only option. Why get rid of coal? The current production of domestic lignite is highly unprofitable, and because of climate goals,” he explained.
Nevertheless, it is exceptionally complicated to get permits for renewables and place them in the environment, Paravan added. On the other hand, nuclear energy is emissions-free and very stable and reliable, he asserted. The technology takes up the least space and enables the production of huge amounts of electricity, the head of GEN energija said.
Nuclear power plant Krško 2 could come online in 2040
Paravan recalled that two years ago nuclear power plant Krško marked four decades since it was commissioned and that its operating life was extended by 20 years. GEN energija is working on the Krško 2 project. The chief executive expects construction to begin in 2022 or 2023 and that the reactor could be connected to the grid in 2040.
In parallel, the company is studying SMRs. Still, the development of the technology will take a long time and, importantly, such facilities won’t have the advantage of scale like large reactors, he said. One who expects electricity from SMRs to be cheaper than from big nuclear plants is wrong, in Paravan’s view.
As for the dilemma between renewable sources and nuclear energy, he expressed the belief that they are not mutually exclusive. “We need renewables and they can provide us a lot of CO2-free electricity in the short run. But let’s make it clear that once we come to 70%, 80%, 90% based on renewables, that we have a problem of seasonal storage, that things will get very difficult,” Paravan stated.
Batteries are ten times cheaper than ten years ago
Conversely, Akuo Energy’s CEO Eric Scotto pointed out that nuclear power is expensive. “It’s over. We won the race. Renewable is the cheapest way to produce energy,” he underscored.
The price of energy storage capacity is ten times lower than ten years ago, the head of the French company noted. Moreover, operating power of a battery system in a standard TEU container, twenty feet or 6.1 meters long, now reaches 6 MW, which is three times more than three years ago, according to Scotto.
To attract investments, stability is necessary, he stressed. Scotto went on to highlight some “simple things” that could help Akuo, which was one of the winners at the last auction round in Serbia, to materialize its projects for two wind parks. He mentioned the speed of permitting for telecommunication systems and road construction, for power plants.
Turning to the slowness of the energy transition in Balkan countries, he emphasized its positive side. “We are late. Then we will benefit from the cheapest resource, the cheapest way to produce energy,” Scotto concluded.
EPCG’s Solari project kicked off energy transition in Montenegro
Technical Director of Elektroprivreda Crne Gore (EPCG) Ljubiša Đurković called the state-owned power utility’s projects Solari 3000+ and Solari 500+ the start of the energy transition in Montenegro. Since the beginning of 2023 and including Solari 5000+, launched later, the company set up photovoltaic systems on 7,380 structures, he revealed.
Total peak capacity reached 76 MW and another 125 MW will be installed by the end of the year, EPCG’s official said.
Among its projects, the company is building the Gvozd wind farm, and the Kapino polje solar park near Nikšić.
Technical Director of EPCG Ljubiša Đurković
There is already 10 MW on roofs in the former Željezara steel plant in Nikšić, and before the end of the year another 15.5 MW will be connected to the grid, Đurković said. A contract has been signed for the construction of the eighth generator in the Perućica hydropower plant, of 58 MW. It is scheduled for completion in 2027.
Đurković: A realistic date for the closure of the Pljevlja thermal power plant is between 2045 and 2050
The energy transition is about a single and connected system, including storage capacities and measures to improve energy efficiency, he underscored. “You have to create the conditions for a swift integration of renewable energy sources into the distribution and transmission networks. We were supposed to do that already. We didn’t do it, particularly in the Western Balkans. We didn’t reconstruct the distribution and transmission networks,” he stated.
As for the current reconstruction of the coal-fired Pljevlja thermal power plant, the only one in Montenegro, Đurković said the project wouldn’t make sense if the facility were to keep operating only for a short while longer.
žAccording to the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), which is almost complete, it will remain active at least until 2041, although the realistic date for its closure is only between 2045 and 2050, in the opinion of EPCG’s technical director. The main phase of the reconstruction began at the end of March.
