At the Energy Infrastructure Forum 2026, RGI, the European Commission’s DG Energy and the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), launched the Roadmap towards Public Engagement Plans (PEPs).
As part of the work on implementing the EU Pact for Engagement, the Roadmap towards Public Engagement Plans (PEP) is an important milestone in helping accelerate the energy transition while ensuring that the public is meaningfully involved in shaping Europe’s future energy networks.
As strategic, system-level supporting instruments, Public Engagement Plans are intended to strengthen transparency and continuous improvement in how grid operators plan, govern, and evaluate public engagement activities across the different stages of electricity infrastructure planning and implementation. They provide support system operators on how to plan, implement, and evaluate public engagement activities throughout an infrastructure project’s cycle.
By improving transparency and comparability of public engagement activities, the PEPs also aim at enhancing accessibility for stakeholders and enable learning and continuous improvement under the Pact for Engagement.
Next steps
As a follow-up to the roadmap, the next phase of work for the Pact for Engagement will focus on:
- Collaboratively developing a practical template for PEPs to be tested in practice.
- Assessing best practices for the evaluation and impact assessment of public engagement practices in grid development.
- Mapping the roles and responsibilities in public engagement to improve transparency and effectiveness of engagement activities.
contact
Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz
andrzej[at]renewables-grid.euDirector – Energy Systems
Stephanie Bätjer
stephanie[at]renewables-grid.euDirector – Communication
Nathália Pimentel
nathalia[at]renewables-grid.euManager – Communication & Energy Systems
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