The RGI Grid Awards are an annual accolade granted by RGI, based on the expertise of our jury, who selects winners of the Good Practice of the Year award across three impact areas.

About

The award acknowledges exceptional practices rather than entire grid projects. However, the submitted practices must clearly show their connection to grid development that facilitates renewable integration.

We strongly encourage grid operators, project developers, NGOs, and public authorities involved in grid projects, both European and non-European, to submit their entries and highlight their most original and successful practices. Let your remarkable achievements shine in this competition!

The purpose of this award is to recognise, promote, and commemorate practices that display extraordinary dedication and ingenuity. The jury thoroughly evaluates several factors, such as innovation, impact and outcomes, scope and transferability, and collaborative approaches, to determine the three winning practices.

Image Source: 4th PCI Energy Days 2023

Award Categories

The RGI Grid Awards honour remarkable practices in grid development across three categories:

Technological Innovation & System Integration

Communication & Engagement

Environmental Protection

Independent Jury of Experts

Our distinguished jury of experts selects one submission per category as the ‘Good Practice of the Year’. While the idea and the evaluation criteria were developed by the RGI Secretariat, the evaluation itself solely lies in the hands of this independent jury of experts.

FORVIS MAZARS

The international audit and advisory company FORVIS MAZARS accompanies the process, by providing screening of submissions, evaluating compliances with criteria and supporting jury members in their selection decisions.

Gregg D. Ander

Navigant Consulting

LLCSenior Fellow

Gregg D. Ander

LLCSenior Fellow

Gregg D. Ander is the Managing Director of Gregg D. Ander, LLC and a Senior Fellow with Navigant Consulting providing consultative services on a variety of power and energy sector issues. He recently stepped down as the Vice President of Power Strategies at the Energy Foundation in San Francisco, where he oversaw a portfolio of investments including utility generation, distributed energy resources, energy efficiency, and cross cutting (grid integration, finance, data, pricing, business models). Previously, he held numerous senior management positions during his 30-year career at Southern California Edison, worked at the California Energy Commission, and was in private practice in Wisconsin and Arizona. Mr. Ander was the Executive Producer of seven environmentally focused television programs for NBC, CBS, and PBS. One program, “Greener Buildings/Bluer Skies,” won an Emmy award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Additionally he taught graduate and undergraduate courses at Cal-Poly for twenty years on advanced environmental controls.

Joachim Balke

DG Energy, European Commission

Head of Unit for Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation

Joachim Balke

Head of Unit for Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation

Since November 2019 Head of Unit for Infrastructure and regional cooperation in DG Energy. Held previous posts in the Commission in the Cabinets of Energy Commissioners Guenther Oettinger and Miguel Arias Cañete, as well as in the units dealing with Renewable Energy and Energy Taxation (DG TAXUD). Previous experience working in the energy sector for a utility group, as well as in the European Parliament. Holds a Masters Degree in European Studies from the College of Europe, Natolin.

Susana Batel

Centre for Social Research & Intervention (Cis) – University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE)

Integrated Researcher

Susana Batel

Integrated Researcher

Susana Batel is an Integrated Researcher at the Centre for Social Research and Intervention (Cis) of the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE), Portugal, with expertise on the social studies of energy and the environment. Her research has specifically been examing people’s responses to and engagement with renewable energy generation and associated infrastructures and she participates in several EU funded projects that aim to better understand energy transitions as socio-technical processes.

Humberto Delgado Rosa

DG Environment, European Commission

Director for Biodiversity

Humberto Delgado Rosa

Director for Biodiversity

Humberto Delgado Rosa is the Director for Natural Capital, DG Environment, European Commission. Previously he was Director for Mainstreaming Adaptation and Low Carbon Technology in DG Climate Action. He is experienced in European and international environmental policy, particularly in biodiversity and climate change issues. He served as Secretary of State for the Environment of the Portuguese Government from March 2005 to June 2011. Between 1995 and 2002 he was an advisor for environmental matters to the Prime-Minister of Portugal. He holds a PhD in Evolutionary Biology. H. Delgado Rosa was born in Lisbon in 1960.

Marie Donnelly

Climate Change Advisory Council Ireland

Chairperson

Marie Donnelly

Chairperson

Marie is the Chairperson of the Climate Change Advisory Council in Ireland – the independent advisory body tasked with assessing and advising on how Ireland is making the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050. Marie spent thirty years with the European Commission, ultimately in DG ENERGY, where she was Director for Renewables, Energy Efficiency and Innovation. Marie collaborates with MaREI (the Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine research and innovation at University College Cork) and the University College Dublin (UCD) Energy Institute. Previously she was the first Chairperson of Renewable Energy Ireland and was a non-executive director of Tipperary Energy Agency, and E3G think tank.

Jean-Michel Glachant

Florence School of Regulation

Director

Jean-Michel Glachant

Director

Glachant took his Ph.D. in Economics at La Sorbonne in France. He is Director of the Florence School of Regulation / Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies / European University Institute, the Holder of the Loyola de Palacio Chair in European Energy Policy & Regulation, and vice-president of the International Association for Energy Economics. He is associate researcher at the university of Cambridge (Electricity Policy Research Group) and at the MIT (Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Research). His last book (2021) is the “Handbook on Electricity Markets” (co-edited with P. Joskow, MIT, and M. Pollitt, Cambridge U.). He worked in the industry and private sector before becoming professor at La Sorbonne. He has been advisor of DG TREN, DG COMP and DG RESEARCH at the European Commission and of the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). He has been coordinator and scientific advisor of several European research projects. Jean-Michel has been editor-in-chief of EEEP: “Economics of Energy and Environmental Policy” (an IAEE journal).

Michael Hogan

Regulatory Assistance Project

Senior Advisor

Michael Hogan

Senior Advisor

Mr. Hogan has since 2010 been a Senior Advisor to the Regulatory Assistance Project in Europe and the US on power industry decarbonization, focusing on wholesale market design and system integration of intermittent supply. Previously he directed the European Climate Foundation’s Power Program where he led ECF’s landmark Roadmap 2050 decarbonization project. In 18 years in the private power industry he led the development, financing and operations of 13,300 MW of independent power plants on four continents. He began his career in 1980 in power systems marketing with GE. He earned an MBA from Harvard, an ScM from MIT in energy policy, and a BA (Philosophy) and a BS (Aerospace & Mechanical Eng) from the University of Notre Dame.

PJ Stephenson

IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group

Chair

PJ Stephenson

Chair

PJ Stephenson is also a Conservation & Sustainability Consultant, and a Research Fellow at the University of Lausanne. As an independent consultant, PJ supports environmental organisations and businesses to enhance conservation impact, sustainability and results-based management. He specializes in planning, monitoring and evaluation and has produced several reports and guidelines for RGI on the monitoring of biodiversity around offshore wind farms. In his roles with the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the University of Lausanne he strives to study and improve the flow of biodiversity data to decision makers across sectors. Before becoming independent, PJ worked around the world for conservation agencies such as Conservation International, IUCN and WWF.

Carl Zichella

NRDC

Director for western transmission

Carl Zichella

Director for western transmission

Carl Zichella is the retired director for western transmission for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), for whom he worked for a decade. He was the NRDC’s lead western U.S. renewable energy transmission siting expert and served on a nationwide team working on climate and clean energy issues. Since retiring from NRDC in 2019, he has maintained a private consultancy in which he works with environmental organizations, renewable energy and transmission companies, local, state and national governments, regulators and the public to find transmission solutions that accelerate renewable energy development while respecting wildlife and land conservation efforts. Mr. Zichella served as a director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology (CEERT) for 15 years. He was an environmental representative for the Western Electricity Coordinating Council’s (WECC) Reliability Assessment Committee, and vice chair of WECC’s Scenario Planning Subcommittee. He served as a member of the California Independent System Operator’s Energy Imbalance Market Transitional Committee through the market’s launch in 2015. He served on the Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee from 2013 to 2017 and was vice chair between 2016 and September 2017.

Gregg D. Ander

Navigant Consulting

LLCSenior Fellow

Gregg D. Ander

LLCSenior Fellow

Gregg D. Ander is the Managing Director of Gregg D. Ander, LLC and a Senior Fellow with Navigant Consulting providing consultative services on a variety of power and energy sector issues. He recently stepped down as the Vice President of Power Strategies at the Energy Foundation in San Francisco, where he oversaw a portfolio of investments including utility generation, distributed energy resources, energy efficiency, and cross cutting (grid integration, finance, data, pricing, business models). Previously, he held numerous senior management positions during his 30-year career at Southern California Edison, worked at the California Energy Commission, and was in private practice in Wisconsin and Arizona. Mr. Ander was the Executive Producer of seven environmentally focused television programs for NBC, CBS, and PBS. One program, “Greener Buildings/Bluer Skies,” won an Emmy award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Additionally he taught graduate and undergraduate courses at Cal-Poly for twenty years on advanced environmental controls.

Joachim Balke

DG Energy, European Commission

Head of Unit for Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation

Joachim Balke

Head of Unit for Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation

Since November 2019 Head of Unit for Infrastructure and regional cooperation in DG Energy. Held previous posts in the Commission in the Cabinets of Energy Commissioners Guenther Oettinger and Miguel Arias Cañete, as well as in the units dealing with Renewable Energy and Energy Taxation (DG TAXUD). Previous experience working in the energy sector for a utility group, as well as in the European Parliament. Holds a Masters Degree in European Studies from the College of Europe, Natolin.

Susana Batel

Centre for Social Research & Intervention (Cis) – University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE)

Integrated Researcher

Susana Batel

Integrated Researcher

Susana Batel is an Integrated Researcher at the Centre for Social Research and Intervention (Cis) of the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE), Portugal, with expertise on the social studies of energy and the environment. Her research has specifically been examing people’s responses to and engagement with renewable energy generation and associated infrastructures and she participates in several EU funded projects that aim to better understand energy transitions as socio-technical processes.

Humberto Delgado Rosa

DG Environment, European Commission

Director for Biodiversity

Humberto Delgado Rosa

Director for Biodiversity

Humberto Delgado Rosa is the Director for Natural Capital, DG Environment, European Commission. Previously he was Director for Mainstreaming Adaptation and Low Carbon Technology in DG Climate Action. He is experienced in European and international environmental policy, particularly in biodiversity and climate change issues. He served as Secretary of State for the Environment of the Portuguese Government from March 2005 to June 2011. Between 1995 and 2002 he was an advisor for environmental matters to the Prime-Minister of Portugal. He holds a PhD in Evolutionary Biology. H. Delgado Rosa was born in Lisbon in 1960.

Marie Donnelly

Climate Change Advisory Council Ireland

Chairperson

Marie Donnelly

Chairperson

Marie is the Chairperson of the Climate Change Advisory Council in Ireland – the independent advisory body tasked with assessing and advising on how Ireland is making the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050. Marie spent thirty years with the European Commission, ultimately in DG ENERGY, where she was Director for Renewables, Energy Efficiency and Innovation. Marie collaborates with MaREI (the Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine research and innovation at University College Cork) and the University College Dublin (UCD) Energy Institute. Previously she was the first Chairperson of Renewable Energy Ireland and was a non-executive director of Tipperary Energy Agency, and E3G think tank.

Jean-Michel Glachant

Florence School of Regulation

Director

Jean-Michel Glachant

Director

Glachant took his Ph.D. in Economics at La Sorbonne in France. He is Director of the Florence School of Regulation / Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies / European University Institute, the Holder of the Loyola de Palacio Chair in European Energy Policy & Regulation, and vice-president of the International Association for Energy Economics. He is associate researcher at the university of Cambridge (Electricity Policy Research Group) and at the MIT (Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Research). His last book (2021) is the “Handbook on Electricity Markets” (co-edited with P. Joskow, MIT, and M. Pollitt, Cambridge U.). He worked in the industry and private sector before becoming professor at La Sorbonne. He has been advisor of DG TREN, DG COMP and DG RESEARCH at the European Commission and of the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE). He has been coordinator and scientific advisor of several European research projects. Jean-Michel has been editor-in-chief of EEEP: “Economics of Energy and Environmental Policy” (an IAEE journal).

Michael Hogan

Regulatory Assistance Project

Senior Advisor

Michael Hogan

Senior Advisor

Mr. Hogan has since 2010 been a Senior Advisor to the Regulatory Assistance Project in Europe and the US on power industry decarbonization, focusing on wholesale market design and system integration of intermittent supply. Previously he directed the European Climate Foundation’s Power Program where he led ECF’s landmark Roadmap 2050 decarbonization project. In 18 years in the private power industry he led the development, financing and operations of 13,300 MW of independent power plants on four continents. He began his career in 1980 in power systems marketing with GE. He earned an MBA from Harvard, an ScM from MIT in energy policy, and a BA (Philosophy) and a BS (Aerospace & Mechanical Eng) from the University of Notre Dame.

PJ Stephenson

IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group

Chair

PJ Stephenson

Chair

PJ Stephenson is also a Conservation & Sustainability Consultant, and a Research Fellow at the University of Lausanne. As an independent consultant, PJ supports environmental organisations and businesses to enhance conservation impact, sustainability and results-based management. He specializes in planning, monitoring and evaluation and has produced several reports and guidelines for RGI on the monitoring of biodiversity around offshore wind farms. In his roles with the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the University of Lausanne he strives to study and improve the flow of biodiversity data to decision makers across sectors. Before becoming independent, PJ worked around the world for conservation agencies such as Conservation International, IUCN and WWF.

Carl Zichella

NRDC

Director for western transmission

Carl Zichella

Director for western transmission

Carl Zichella is the retired director for western transmission for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), for whom he worked for a decade. He was the NRDC’s lead western U.S. renewable energy transmission siting expert and served on a nationwide team working on climate and clean energy issues. Since retiring from NRDC in 2019, he has maintained a private consultancy in which he works with environmental organizations, renewable energy and transmission companies, local, state and national governments, regulators and the public to find transmission solutions that accelerate renewable energy development while respecting wildlife and land conservation efforts. Mr. Zichella served as a director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology (CEERT) for 15 years. He was an environmental representative for the Western Electricity Coordinating Council’s (WECC) Reliability Assessment Committee, and vice chair of WECC’s Scenario Planning Subcommittee. He served as a member of the California Independent System Operator’s Energy Imbalance Market Transitional Committee through the market’s launch in 2015. He served on the Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee from 2013 to 2017 and was vice chair between 2016 and September 2017.

Winning practices

Every year, winners are announced on stage at the RGI Grid Awards ceremony, which takes place during the PCI Energy Days event hosted by the European Commission in Brussels. Representatives from the winning organisations receive the Golden Pylon trophy, and their winning Good Practice of the Year receives a double-page spread in the award brochure.

2024 Good Practices of the Year

Netherlands

2024

Moonshot

ECHT regie in transitie

Germany

2024

First Grid-Forming 300 MVAr STATCOM in Germany

Amprion

Belgium

2024

Nature-inclusive design approach planned for the Princess Elisabeth Island

Elia

Worldwide

2024

Open Energy Modelling Initiative (openmod)

Open Energy Modelling Initiative

Netherlands

2024

Moonshot

ECHT regie in transitie

Germany

2024

First Grid-Forming 300 MVAr STATCOM in Germany

Amprion

Belgium

2024

Nature-inclusive design approach planned for the Princess Elisabeth Island

Elia

Worldwide

2024

Open Energy Modelling Initiative (openmod)

Open Energy Modelling Initiative

All Winning Practices are showcased in our Good Practice Database. Click here to explore and learn more.

Award Brochures

The winning practices and jury’s other favourites from each year are collected in the following award brochures. These brochures provide dozens of examples of novel strategies and programs that energy system actors have undertaken to improve the technical, environmental, and social aspects of electricity grid deployment and renewables integration. Enjoy!

most recent brochure

2024 Award Brochure

The 2024 features the winning practices from Elia, Amprion, The Open Energy Modelling Initiative, and ECHT regie in transitie, as well as fourteen other innovative practices in three award categories

2023 Award Brochure

2022 Award Brochure

2021 Award Brochure

2020 Award Brochure

2019 Award Brochure

2018 Award Brochure

2017 Award Brochure

2016 Award Brochure

2015 Award Brochure

2014 Award Brochure

2023 Award Brochure

2022 Award Brochure

2021 Award Brochure

2020 Award Brochure

2019 Award Brochure

2018 Award Brochure

2017 Award Brochure

2016 Award Brochure

2015 Award Brochure

2014 Award Brochure