Energy resilience: engineering a smarter European grid

In Europe, energy resilience is no longer a given. It’s something we must intentionally engineer. Geopolitical shocks, climate extremes, cyberattacks, and shifting demand patterns are revealing just how quickly the grid must adapt. 

Although the continent has made huge strides in electrification and renewable deployment, the digital intelligence needed to operate a truly modern, smart grid still lags behind. Millions of new devices, from inverters and heat pumps to distributed generation, are connecting faster than the development of systems, data, and standards required to manage them. At the same time, much of the underlying infrastructure remains decades old and was never designed to operate in a digital environment. 

As Europe pushes toward a more electrified and interconnected future, the question isn’t whether the grid will change, it’s how intelligently and quickly we can shape that change. We need to focus on the realities holding the system back, and on the digital building blocks like quality data, shared standards, and smarter integration that will determine Europe’s ability to withstand what comes next.

Of course, Europe is not short on innovation. There are compelling pilot projects demonstrating what a more modern, digital grid could look like. One recent example comes from Switzerland’s national grid company. Swissgrid now deploys autonomous drones paired with intelligent image analysis to inspect extra-high-voltage lines. These types of initiatives show what’s possible, but they remain isolated pockets of innovation rather than continent-wide capabilities.

And this is the heart of the reality gap. While innovation exists, the data standardisation needed to connect systems, from formats and update frequencies to exchange mechanisms and transparency, is still missing. 

As the power system evolves, real-time operational challenges are becoming more pronounced. With a growing share of renewables and fewer assets providing rotational inertia, system stability can no longer rely on physical properties alone. Instead, resilience increasingly depends on accurate, standardised, data for forecasts and support of ancillary services such as inertia substitution, voltage control, and transient stability management.

This inconsistency slows innovation. Operators may be collecting similar data, yet store and describe it using different structures or terminology. Even a parameter as basic as voltage can have multiple interpretations depending on the system.

These discrepancies create drag on everything from network planning to analytics to AI deployment, because meaningful automation depends on consistent, interoperable data.

A future-proof, resilient energy grid isn’t built overnight, but through the steady tangible wins that prove a smarter, more flexible system is not only possible, but already taking shape. 

At Zühlke, we believe the path to a resilient European energy system begins with structured, human-centred engineering and governance, not with a big-bang overhaul.

We see value in grounding innovation in practical pilots, defining shared digital infrastructure, building transparent governance, and cultivating a culture of continuous improvement. With that foundation, we can transition the grid into one that’s capable of adapting, learning, and scaling.