Europe's competitiveness hinges on integrated industrial electrification, new Eurelectric report shows

HELSINKI, June 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Electrification already represents a competitiveness advantage for Europe, but scaling up requires better alignment across system levels, according to a new Eurelectric report launched today at the Power Summit. Drawing on evidence from 61 companies and 30 concrete projects, the report identifies what makes an industrial project successful and what holds back deployment. A new model emerged: "Power Couples" – a replicable electrification strategy that boosts competitiveness by aligning market signals, grid infrastructure, investment frameworks and policy.

Electrification is increasingly recognised as a key prerequisite for industry to stay competitive on the global stage, yet it is not scaling up at the needed pace. To identify key barriers and shape common solutions, the European power sector has engaged with industry players from three different segments: low- and medium-temperature heat, energy-intensive industries and data centres.

The resulting report identifies five replicable models working as "Power Couples": integrated industrial partnerships models that jointly optimise demand, low-carbon supply, infrastructure and flexibility.

In a Power Couples model, one load anchors long-term clean power, another shifts demand when prices spike, a third provides fast balancing, and all of them share infrastructure, risk and system value. They operate through commercial structures such as long-term PPAs, Heat as a Service, Energy as a service, waste-heat offtake, flexibility revenues or blended public-private financing.

"Turning fragmented decisions into coordinated, system-level delivery is the key to solve the full electrification deployment challenge," said Markus Rauramo, Eurelectric President and CEO of Fortum. "Europe now needs investment predictability, faster grid build-out and integrated delivery models that can scale quickly. This will unlock a more resilient, competitive and investment-ready industrial economy".

For industry, the Power Couples approach supports the economic returns on investments in electrification. Catherine MacGregor, Eurelectric Vice-President and CEO of ENGIE commented: "Electrification is a cornerstone of Europe's industrial competitiveness and energy transition. To unlock its potential, we need a more integrated approach that connects market design, infrastructure and investment frameworks. When these dimensions are aligned early, electrification becomes not only technically feasible but economically compelling, paving the way for scalable, replicable and cost-effective projects across Europe."

Note to Editors:

Eurelectric represents the common interests of the European electricity industry. Speaking for more than 3,500 electricity companies, we seek to promote the role of electricity for society.

Press Contact:
Chiara CARMINUCCI
Press Advisor
ccarminucci@eurelectric.org
+32476871575

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