RGI’s work on ENTSO-E's Ten Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP) and European Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) has a strong emphasis on making both procedures more transparent and legitimate, allowing stakeholders to find better information and more opportunity to contribute to the processes. For example, RGI has helped in the past to review the social and environmental indicator of the TYNDP CBA methodology and has continuously taken part in discussions on how to make the selection of PCIs more needs-based.

The TYNDP and the process of selecting PCIs are the two tools which determine European grid priorities. As a consequence, they are loaded with high expectations to provide answers on recurring doubts and concerns of different stakeholders, such as

1. whether grid development is indeed a contribution to the energy transition or whether it is not rather driven to strengthen a status quo.
2. whether it is technically possible to build an electricity sector on a large share of volatile renewables without losing out on security of supply and
3. whether individual projects could not be avoided if a different (more decentralised, higher energy efficient, seizing storage at a larger scale, smarter, more small-scale and flexible) future scenario was planned for.

To be able to respond to these concerns, work in two areas is needed. On the one side, both TYNDP and PCI process have to become better in fulfilling a communication purpose. When developed, neither was meant to translate the outcome of all modeling analyses to interested or concerned non-expert stakeholders. However, this is what is needed to provide an appropriate reaction to some of the above concerns.

In addition, TYNDP and PCI selection have initially taken rather conservative approaches in looking into a renewables-based future, not considering what would happen if more extreme low carbon scenarios were the basis of their planning, while this is exactly what many stakeholders wish to get answers to.

RGI has put the TYNDP and PCI selection processes regularly on the agenda in conversations with ENTSOs and the European Commission amongst others as a Member of the ENTSO-E Network Development Stakeholder Group. RGI has organised events dedicated to PCIs and, since 2016, we organise so called Future Scenario Exchange workshops. In 2019/2020, a collaboration between ENTSOs, Climate Action Network Europe, European Environmental Bureau and RGI on Paris Agreement Compatible Scenarios for Energy Infrastructure (PAC project) is taking place.