Shaping the Future Grid: Challenges of Acceptance, Security & Planning in the Energy Transition
As societies push toward decarbonisation and deeper electrification, the electrical grid becomes a central pillar—and also a battleground. Scaling renewable integration demands massive grid reinforcement and expansion. But technical viability alone is not enough: social acceptance, resilient design, and strategic planning are equally essential. At the Second Belgian Energy Transition Workshop, Etch – the Energy Transmission Competence Hub at EnergyVille convened leading academics, system operators, and industry actors to explore how to build a grid that is not only clean, but accepted, secure, and future‑proof.
Key Takeaways
The workshop underscored that the grid of tomorrow must balance three intertwined dimensions:
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Acceptance – New grid infrastructure must make sense technically, economically, and socially.
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Security – In a grid increasingly reliant on HVDC and converter‑based systems, new reliability and protection paradigms are required.
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Planning under uncertainty – Climate risks, variable renewables, and geopolitical volatility demand adaptive, risk‑aware planning.
By fostering cross‑sector dialogue, EnergyVille emphasised its role as a catalyst for integrated solutions spanning hardware, software, regulation, and stakeholder engagement.
Infrastructure Acceptance & Grid Security
Parallel sessions in the morning highlighted that infrastructure deployment is never just a technical exercise. The success of underground cables, grid reinforcements, and deployment of electrolyzers relies heavily on modelling uncertainties, cost allocation, and community buy‑in.
On the security front, contributors advocated for more probabilistic reliability methods—going beyond deterministic rules—to better capture systemic risk. Standardisation of HVDC measurement and protection devices, and optimal placement of DC circuit breakers, emerged as priority challenges in a more complex electrical landscape.
Interoperability Across Borders
In his keynote, Xavier Bourgeat (RTE) flagged the critical importance of harmonising systems, operational practice, and technologies across national transmission systems. As Europe’s electricity networks become more interconnected, seamless compatibility is no longer optional; it is foundational.
Designing the Grid of Tomorrow
Afternoon sessions zeroed in on how to architect systems for stability in a converter‑dominated world. The “To Grid Form or Not to Grid Form” debate tackled how far grid-forming converters should assert control versus supporting grid-following strategies. Subjects included EMT (electromagnetic transient) modelling, modular multilevel converters (MMC), and dynamic support strategies for small-signal stability.
Meanwhile, resilience planning took center stage: extreme weather, offshore farm outages, and geopolitical disruptions all demand tools and regulation that internalise uncertainty. A key insight: resilience must be baked into planning, not tacked on later.
Etch as Catalyst
Throughout the workshop, the central role of Etch, an initiative of EnergyVille, became clear: to serve as a platform for collaboration where academic researchers, system operators, and industrial experts co-develop technical solutions and strategies. By hosting this event, Etch reinforced its commitment to fostering interdisciplinary dialogue on future-proof, secure and accepted electricity grids.