From Munich to Brussels, Energy Security Takes Center Stage

February marked a turning point for European energy security. The EU moved to legally ban Russian gas, energy took center stage at the Munich Security Conference, and two of Europe’s flagship clean industry projects collapsed in the same week. Energy security has now firmly entered the core of Europe’s geopolitical and industrial agenda.

In this edition we'll cover:

Berlin | March 17, 2026

We are proud to collaborate with the SET Tech Festival 2026 (powered by dena), one of the most influential international events in energy and climate tech.

Join us in celebrating a decade of innovation at SET’s 10th anniversary edition in Berlin on 17 March 2026.

As a friend of SET, we are delighted to offer you an exclusive 25% discount. Simply use the code STF26_DISCOUNT25 at checkout to secure your spot.

→ Sign up now

Zoom | March 3, 2026

Julius Werner, former Executive Manager at J. Baumgartner Baustrom GmbH, will break down why Germany's static industrial electricity pricing clashes with a renewable-dominated grid — and where businesses lose flexibility and money as a result. Expect a practitioner's perspective grounded in real contracts, grid fees, and balance sheets.

→ Join 120+ people who have already signed up for this event. There are still some places available.

Potsdam | March 5, 2026

After three strong meetups in Berlin, we’re bringing the same energy ecosystem next door to Potsdam — hosted at the 1KOMMA5° showroom. As one of Europe’s fastest-growing climate tech companies, they are building integrated solutions across solar, storage, heat pumps, and energy software to accelerate the transition toward a fully renewable energy system.

Join founders, engineers, investors, and energy professionals from the Berlin–Brandenburg community for an evening of focused conversations, new connections, and fresh ideas shaping Europe’s energy future.

→ Sign up now

Vienna, Austria | March 13 — 15, 2026

Our first Energy Hackathon in Vienna is approaching. Organized together with The Energy Bridge, the event brings together 100+ developers, engineers, founders, and energy professionals from Austria and across the CEE region to work on real challenges—from grid stability and decentralized renewables to storage, flexibility, and AI-driven energy systems.

Over three days, participants will form teams, prototype solutions, and connect with others actively building the future of energy. The call for challenges is still open — a chance to bring real-world problems and work directly with technical builders!

→ Learn more and register

→ Interested in joining or contributing a challenge? Feel free to reach out

At the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, energy security took center stage as a geopolitical priority. On the sidelines, the BMW Foundation’s Energy Security Hub convened leaders including IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol and Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch, with discussions focusing on industrial resilience, supply chains, and the risk of new dependencies emerging during the energy transition.

This shift was also visible on the main MSC stage. US Secretary of State Rubio called European climate policy a “climate cult" reinforcing a harder line that had already emerged in Washington. Days later, at the IEA Ministerial, US Energy Secretary Wright went further, demanding the agency abandon its net-zero modeling and dismissing such scenarios as “left-wing fantasies.” European leaders pushed back. Chancellor Merz rejected what he described as the “culture wars of MAGA,” highlighting a widening transatlantic divide over energy and climate policy.

The backdrop to all of this: on February 3, Regulation (EU) 2026/261 entered into force, legally banning Russian gas imports. The regulation phases out different contract types over the coming months, with a full ban on all Russian gas by autumn 2027. Non-compliance carries fines of at least 3.5% of global turnover.

But so far, cutting Russian gas has meant increasing American gas. In 2025, 57% of the EU's LNG imports came from the United States, up from 6% in 2021, and IEEFA warns this could reach 75–80% by 2030, a trajectory that the $750 billion EU-US energy trade deal signed last July is likely to reinforce.

EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen acknowledged the risk: "There is a growing concern, which I share, that we risk replacing one dependency with another." Brussels is now courting Canada, Qatar, and North African suppliers to diversify. Ultimately, though, renewables and electrification remain the most reliable path to actual energy independence, since they are the only sources no foreign government can restrict.

February delivered a brutal reality check for European industrial sovereignty.

On February 7, Automotive Cells Company (ACC), the battery joint venture between Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, and TotalEnergies, permanently shelved its planned gigafactories in Termoli, Italy and Kaiserslautern, Germany. CEO Yann Vincent didn't mince words: building new battery plants in Europe right now would be "totally irresponsible." Stellantis followed with a €22.2 billion writedown, one of the largest in European automotive history.

Only days later, Cummins announced it would halt all new electrolyzer activity globally, confirming the closure of its Oevel plant in Belgium. Until recently, this was one of Europe's only large-scale PEM electrolyzer factories.

ACC and Cummins are not making bad decisions. They are responding rationally to overcapacity, cheap Chinese competition, high European energy costs, and uncertain demand. That's precisely what makes it so structurally alarming. Three South Korean firms alone own four-fifths of operational battery cell capacity in Europe, and Chinese investment is arriving fast. CATL's Debrecen plant in Hungary is approaching full 40 GWh operation, and a CATL-Stellantis JV just broke ground on a 50 GWh LFP plant in Zaragoza. The companies filling Europe's green industrial gap are overwhelmingly Asian.

However, there are also counter-signals:

So far, Europe is getting its gigafactories. They're just not European.

A busy few weeks across the European energy stack. Grid intelligence led with metiundo's €40M for smart metering, while battery optimization, critical minerals, and heat pumps all attracted capital — plus a wildcard pre-seed bet on energy storage in space.

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