19 November 2025
TenneT offices – Square de Meeûs 38/40, 1000 Brussels
Organised by: RGI
Europe’s electricity grids are undergoing rapid transformation as renewables scale up, electrification accelerates and flexibility plays a growing role across all voltage levels. Ensuring a reliable, efficient and future-proof energy system requires new forms of coordination across planning processes, governance structures and operational practices.
RGI’s two-day workshop ‘Empowering Grids from Planning to Practice’ convened stakeholders across the grid value chain to exchange practical insights and accelerate this work.
The first day focused on how enhanced coordination between TSOs and DSOs can improve planning and operations, as well as unlock the full potential of flexibility.
Building upon RGI’s previous flexibility workshops in 2023 and in 2024, the second day discussed the Flexibility Needs Assessment (FNA) methodology. It shed light on its provisions, including synergies and methodological links with other national and EU studies, and explored the role and potential of different market actors, alongside enabling conditions.
Key insights from the workshop included:
01
Strengthening TSO–DSO cooperation is essential for coherent planning across all voltage levels and for unlocking distributed flexibility.
02
Governance and regulatory alignment remain critical enablers for effective collaboration and system optimisation.
03
Greater transparency, open data practices and clearer planning roles can help integrate flexibility into both long-term and operational decision-making.
04
The FNA, while an important mandate, requires careful coordination with existing studies; methodological clarity and improved data flows will be essential.
Photos
Participating Organisations
- ENTSO-E
- Energy Storage Europe
- European Commission
- Siemens Norway
- RTE
- TenneT
- Agora Energiewende
- Elia
- Open Energy Transition (OET)
- EU DSO Entity
- Florence School of Regulation
- Amprion GmbH
- ACER
- SolarPower Europe
- RSE
- Fingrid
- Regulatory Assistance Project
- Octopus Energy
- Artelys
- 50Hertz
- TransnetBW
- Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
Presentations
Day 1 | Agenda & Speakers
Enhancing TSO-DSO Collaboration in Planning and Operations
session 1
Collaboration for long-term planning
session 2
Collaborating for system operations
Day 2 | Agenda & Speakers
From Methodology to Mandate: Implementing the Flexibility Needs Assessments
session 1
FNA Methodology deep dive
session 2
Complementarity of FNAs with adequacy and TYNDP
session 3
From potential to practice: flexibility capabilities and enablers
RGI Resources on Flexibility
contact
Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz
andrzej[at]renewables-grid.euDirector – Energy Systems
Alexandros Fakas Kakouris
alexandros[at]renewables-grid.euSenior Manager – Energy and Policy Systems
Amanda Schibline
amanda[at]renewables-grid.euManager – Socio-Energy Systems
Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz
andrzej[at]renewables-grid.euDirector – Energy Systems
Alexandros Fakas Kakouris
alexandros[at]renewables-grid.euSenior Manager – Energy and Policy Systems
Amanda Schibline
amanda[at]renewables-grid.euManager – Socio-Energy Systems
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