Europe’s electrification ambitions threatened by vote on steel
This article has been updated since its original publication on Wednesday 16 September 2026. Please see below for the outcome of the vote.
A major trade association that represents Europe’s grid technology industry, T&D Europe, and Orgalim are urging against the adoption of a safeguard measure for a type of steel needed in electrification.
Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel (nicknamed GOES) is a strategic material for transformers. Transfomers are an essential part of our energy infrastructure - and particularly our ambitions to electrify. The EU boasts strong domestic production of transformers, with manufacturing sites across 20 Member States, employing 23,000 people in quality, future-looking jobs.
Yet the future of this industry is under threat from a vote put to Member State representatives by the European Commission, scheduled to take place on Thursday 17 September.
If adopted, the measure will transfer over EUR 700 million per year from the EU transformer industry, to just two domestic producers of grain-oriented electrical steel. And yet, there are no binding investment plans nor capacity commitments in place. It is deeply concerning.
Despite over a decade of the current GOES Minimum Import Prices scheme, EU producers still do not produce the highest-performing GOES, nor have they generated meaningful additional production capacity. Furthermore, the new proposal asks for no guarantees that EU GOES producers will expand output, add production lines, or develop the high-permeability and specialty grades that EU mills do not currently manufacture. In short, the measure will likely not add a single tonne of new EU GOES capacity online within its lifetime.
In contrast, the European transmission and distribution industry has invested heavily in domestic production. In the past 24 months, T&D Europe's 12 corporate members alone announced investments of EUR 12 billion in expanding global manufacturing capacity. The proposed measures would jeopardise the business case for these investments in Europe and imported transformers would become notably more competitive.
The measure is presented as a balanced proposal that would not have significant implications for downstream industries. Yet, in reality, once again, it imposes a significant financial cost burden on a competitive and flourishing downstream industry – transformer manufacturing – that is essential to deliver Europe’s electrification ambitions, while rewarding upstream EU GOES producers without reasonable assurances that they will expand quantity and quality of GOES production in the years to come.
In place of this this safeguard measure, we propose policy measures in line with a value-chain approach, including:
- clear investment commitments by GOES producers to expand capacity and deliver high-performance grades; and
- regular structured dialogue with transformer manufacturers, TSOs and DSOs, and targeted industrial policy measures that strengthen the whole electrification value chain.
Both T&D Europe and Orgalim fervently support further development of a strong and competitive EU GOES industry. But support for GOES producers must not come at the expense of the transformer industry nor threaten Europe’s electrification ambitions.
When Europe’s electrification ambitions need speed, stability and long-term predictability, this proposal will instead:
- Reduce the ability of Europe's transformer industry to deliver on the needs of the growing demand for electrification, and to compete with non-EU imports both in the internal market and in markets outside the EU;
- weaken the attractiveness of the EU as an investment destination for critical, strategic, net-zero clean energy technology; and
- do little to expand quantity and quality of GOES production in years to come.
For these reasons, we urge against the adoption of these measures.
About T&D Europe
T&D Europe is the voice of Europe’s grid technology industry, representing more than 600 companies with more than 450 factories across the continent that design, manufacture, and supply the technologies underpinning Europe’s electricity networks. Employing over 175,000 people, the sector is a key enabler of the energy transition, supporting grid modernisation, renewable energy integration, energy security, and the EU’s objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
Update:
Thursday 17 September, the Safeguards Committee delivered no opinion, meaning the measures were neither voted down nor approved by Member States. The outcome of the vote was 10 Member States in favour, while six voted against and 11 abstained. The European Commission can now either move ahead with temporary safeguards on transformer steel, or review the measure and resubmit it for a second vote.
Orgalim remains committeed to working with all partners across the European institutions and seeking an outcome that is beneficial for Europe's technology industries and demonstrates a holistic approach across the full industrial value chain.