European energy policy has shifted following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent energy price increases. Rather than pursuing complete energy independence, policymakers are increasingly focusing on strategic energy interdependence through multiple trusted partners, diverse generation sources, and redundant supply routes.
The cross-border high-voltage direct current (HVDC) pipeline infrastructure reflects this strategic pivot. An inventory of prospective international electricity links identifies approximately 60 planned projects, with Europe and neighboring regions dominating development. Despite heightened geopolitical tensions and energy security concerns, cross-border transmission expansion continues as a significant infrastructure priority in regions where energy security has become politically prominent. The Baltic-German PowerLink exemplifies this trend, with Lithuania, Latvia and Germany advancing the project even as the Baltic states separated their electricity systems from Russian influence.
Electricity interconnectors function differently than fuel pipelines, creating alternative forms of dependency. While fuel infrastructure relies on continuous commodity supply from external sources, electrical interconnectors connect power systems already containing diverse generation, storage and demand resources. Power typically flows in multiple directions and can draw from various sources including hydro, wind, solar, nuclear and storage facilities across different jurisdictions without eliminating domestic resources.
Policy frameworks increasingly recognize interconnection as a multifaceted security tool rather than solely an economic arbitrage mechanism. European and British regulatory authorities now emphasize interconnectors as components of broader energy security portfolios that include storage and demand flexibility, renewable energy balancing and decarbonization objectives. While geopolitical considerations have added security value to existing infrastructure, most large interconnectors require many years of development and serve multiple purposes including congestion relief and market integration.
Strategic interdependence requires diversification across multiple counterparties, routes and generation types to prevent concentration risk. Individual interconnectors, subsea cable vulnerabilities and correlated weather patterns present potential weak points. The framework for evaluating energy security has shifted from binary independence versus dependence considerations toward portfolio-based assessments comparing system costs and resilience with and without proposed interconnections.
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