Against the current backdrop of the energy transition, the development of the electricity grid needs to be planned in such a way as to provide the Basque Country with an electricity infrastructure that meets the future needs of the business community and society as a whole. The ongoing electrification of the economy means that it will be necessary to increase the capacity and flexibility of the grid in order to decarbonise industry and roll out renewable energy.
In turn, the Basque Country Industry Plan 2030 was drawn up to provide an effective response to current opportunities and challenges. It is structured around three key areas: more industry, better industry and lower emissions. It identifies two transformative projects linked to the development of the electricity grid: Planning Basque electricity grids and Grid4Industry.
The aim of Grid4Industry is to help Basque manufacturers of power grid equipment make a technological leap forward and prepare them for the challenges facing future power grids, thereby capitalising on the investment in power grids planned for the coming years.
Grid4Industry will also allow the Basque Country to take the lead by using the technology developed to renovate and improve existing electricity grids by rolling out demonstration projects, thereby increasing the grid’s capacity and flexibility.

As well as providing an in-depth understanding of Grid4Industry, this session will cover issues such as:

• The main technological developments in grid design and the repowering of high- and medium-voltage overhead and underground lines.
• The new generation of smart substations, featuring high-capacity transformers and switchgear.
• The way in which advanced digitalisation, protection and control systems work.
• The main technological products and equipment associated with these areas of development in electricity grids.

Innovative equipment that will make it possible to increase and improve the management of grid capacity needs to be developed in order to optimise the electricity grid. Technological solutions need to be developed to make procedures more flexible and speed up connections, so as to increase the security and resilience of the grid while reducing its environmental impact.
This session will cover technical issues such as:

• New designs for distribution lines, including aspects such as new support designs and underground pipelines.
• The way in which high-capacity conductors contribute to repowering existing lines.
• The way in which new compact designs help to make processes more flexible.
• The role played by power electronics and direct current distribution in enabling greater control over grid capacity.
• The way in which new-generation compact digitalised substations and their associated switchgear, which can be managed remotely, help to reduce the footprint in urban environments and speed up new connections.
• The way in which renewable energy plants can improve the control of grid voltage and frequency, which has become a critical issue following the blackout that affected the Spanish mainland’s electricity system on 28 April 2025.

This session will provide a technical overview of the technologies that are shaping the evolution of power grids in a context of electrification of demand, large-scale integration of renewables and increasing operational complexity.

Utility companies, equipment manufacturers and engineering firms trying to anticipate the challenges facing tomorrow’s electricity grid will analyse the key technological trends.

This session will look to answer questions such as:

• The way in which IEC 61850-based digital substations, advanced sensor technology, data and communication protocols, and interoperable architectures contribute to more flexible, automated, resilient operations.
• new approaches to adaptive protection and control, advanced grid automation and real-time monitoring using data analytics and integrated OT/IT platforms.
• The way in which artificial intelligence and machine learning are applied to predictive diagnostics, early anomaly detection, dynamic assessment of the grid’s condition, and operational decision-making in environments with a high proportion of renewable energy and critical industrial loads.
• The role played by cybersecurity as a structural element of grid design, and the trends in segmentation, continuous monitoring, vulnerability management and regulatory compliance in electrical infrastructure.

Flexibility has become a strategic asset for the smooth operation of electricity grids and, consequently, the electricity system as a whole. It is also key to making progress towards the competitive decarbonisation of industry.

The increasing penetration of renewable energies, which are essential for reducing emissions, reducing energy costs and strengthening energy self-sufficiency, the projected growth in electricity demand, driven by industrial electrification, digitalisation, data centres and the adoption of electric technologies in other sectors, and the need to maintain a secure, efficient supply all pose major challenges.

In this context, resources that provide flexibility, such as storage (at any scale), active response to demand, and the capacity of generation and grid systems to adapt in real time to system conditions are becoming a critical factor for industry and for the Basque, Spanish and European economies.

This session of the JIEEC 2026 conference will cover current issues relating to storage and flexibility, such as:

• The role of storage in the new electricity system, and the technologies that can be rolled out in the short and medium term in the Iberian electricity system.
• The way in which digitalisation makes it easier to provide flexibility to the system.
• The way in which industry and data centres can provide flexibility to the electricity system and capitalise on the opportunities created by playing an active role in the market and the electricity system.
• The way in which the regulatory framework for flexibility is evolving (flexibility markets, energy aggregators, grid access and connections, regulation of storage, technical requirements for generating renewables and grids, etc.).
• The business models that can facilitate the roll-out of storage technologies and flexibility resources.

The conference will conclude with this session, which is split into two parts and aims to foster links between the entrepreneurial ecosystem, industry and technology providers, encouraging collaboration and the transfer of innovation into real-world market solutions.

During the session, a selection of start-ups will give pitches outlining their innovative solutions to the sector’s current technological challenges.