ESEIA contributes to SET Plan recommendations on market access
The 20th Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) Conference takes place on 4–5 November 2026 in Cork, Ireland, with a focus on the competitiveness and sovereignty of Europe’s strategic energy technologies.
Ahead of the conference, the EC SET Plan Secretariat published the recommendations of the SET Plan Cross-Sector Task Force 5, ‘Access to the Market’. ESEIA Director Brigitte Hasewend led the task force’s work on developing the five recommendations.
Bringing clean energy technologies from demonstration to commercial deployment requires regulatory frameworks that allow testing, access to suitable infrastructure and financing that reflects investment risks. Together, the recommendations address these regulatory, infrastructure, and financing barriers.
The recommendations are aimed primarily at the SET Plan’s Implementation Working Groups and European Technology and Innovation Platforms, as well as the European Energy Research Alliance and the Clean Energy Transition Partnership.
Five recommendations to support market uptake
- Share lessons from regulatory sandboxes and develop new ones. Controlled testing environments allow innovators to validate technologies and help regulators understand how existing rules apply in practice.
- Establish innovation hubs for SET Plan technologies. The hubs would give innovators access to shared testing facilities and technical, regulatory and financial expertise as they prepare for commercial deployment.
- Design financing instruments and funding schemes that reduce investment risk. Public and private funding, guarantees and equity could help bridge financing gaps between demonstration and commercial deployment.
- Involve financial actors in the SET Plan community. Closer engagement with banks, investors and project developers would help technology teams understand financing requirements earlier and give investors a clearer view of projects’ needs.
- Collect and share practices that have helped technologies reach the market. Case studies would give stakeholders across Europe practical examples they can adapt to their own markets.
The report encourages implementation to begin in 2026 and continue through 2030. It outlines steps for each recommendation and identifies indicators to track progress.
The 20th SET Plan Conference
Co-organised by the European Commission, Ireland’s Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment and the Irish EU Presidency, the conference brings together policymakers, investors, industry representatives and researchers at Cork City Hall. The recommendations connect the conference’s focus on competitiveness to a practical question for Europe’s energy sector: what will help technologies move from successful demonstrations to commercial deployment?
Read the Task Force 5 ‘Access to the Market’ recommendations
