‘Implementing RGI Declarations - IRD’ is a framework under which TSOs and NGOs collaborate at national level to support the continuous and ecologically sound development of the grid infrastructure needed for a successful energy transition.

RGI’s statutes, the “European Grid Declaration on Electricity Network Development and Nature Conservation” and its extension on transparency and participation as well as to the objectives set in RGI’s Strategic Plan all point towards an enhanced collaboration of TSOs and NGOs ‘on the ground’. Under the umbrella of IRD, these common ambitions are implemented either in concrete grid development projects or on existing infrastructure by means of a collaboration coordinated by RGI. NGOs actively bring in their specific knowledge with regards to nature protection and stakeholder engagement whereby transmission system operators (TSOs) receive helpful expertise in designing grid development projects. RGI provides comprehensive project management and is additionally in charge of the projects’ documentation and the dissemination of results.

In 2017, the first three IRD projects were launched in Italy and Germany. In 2021, a new project was launched in Ireland. There are currently four ongoing projects:

• NABU (German branch of BirdLife), in collaboration with the German TSOs Amprion, TenneT, TransnetBW and 50Hertz and the DSOs Westnetz and NetzeBW, operates a portal to systematically collect information about bird collision with power lines.
• Germanwatch, in coordination with TenneT, 50Hertz and Amprion, facilitates a societal debate with national and local stakeholders about the grid requirements of the future German electricity system: Debatte Stromnetze gestalten - Shaping the grid debate.
• In Italy, the NGO Legambiente and TSO Terna collaborate in the project 'Lavorare insieme per lavorare meglio' - the project looks into grid development in order to identify new processes for transparency, engagement and better planning.
• In Ireland, 'Our Energy Future' is a collaborative project run by RGI together with NGO, Friends of the Earth and TSO, EirGrid to engage communities and groups around the country on Ireland’s energy transition. 

More information on these projects can be found below.