Industrial Electrification: Could It Become Europe’s Next Competitive Advantage?

Europe has a major industrial asset. It already produces some of the world’s most decarbonised electricity, supported by nuclear, hydro, wind and solar power.

Yet it has struggled to turn that advantage into widespread electrification.

While China has rapidly increased the share of electricity in its energy mix — using electrification to develop new industrial value chains in batteries, solar technologies and electric vehicles — Europe’s progress has remained comparatively slow.

At Global Industrie 2026, Laurent Bataille, President of Schneider Electric France and Europe Operations, argued that this gap is about much more than decarbonisation.

For Europe, electrification could become a question of competitiveness, industrial investment and strategic autonomy.

Europe has the electricity. The challenge is using it.

Bataille’s comparison between the world’s major industrial regions highlights three very different dynamics.

China has accelerated electrification partly to reduce its exposure to fossil fuels, but in doing so has also developed major industrial positions in solar power, batteries and electric mobility.

In the United States, a different force is driving electricity demand: the rapid development of data centres and artificial intelligence.

Europe, meanwhile, has another advantage: a highly decarbonised electricity mix. Yet electricity still represents only 23% of final energy consumption across the EU, according to the European Commission.

For Bataille, Europe has spent considerable time debating how electricity should be generated. The next challenge is different: how do we get more of our economy to actually use it?

Much of industry could electrify today

One of the most important messages from the conference is that Europe does not necessarily need to wait for a technological breakthrough.

According to the study presented by Bataille at Global Industrie 2026, around two-thirds of industrial processes could already be electrified using existing technologies, particularly processes requiring temperatures below 300°C.

And Europe is currently exploiting less than half of that potential.

This changes the nature of the debate. The challenge is not simply technological readiness; it is deployment.

For manufacturers, electrification can involve mature solutions already available today. But investment decisions depend on electricity prices, the cost of alternatives such as gas, access to the grid and the expected return over the lifetime of industrial equipment.

“It is not an expense. It is an investment.”

This is where Bataille makes perhaps his strongest industrial argument.

Europe spends significant amounts every year importing fossil fuels. These are recurring costs: gas and oil have to be purchased continuously, and their availability and prices remain exposed to international markets.

Electrification works differently.

It requires upfront investment in physical assets — power generation, networks, equipment and infrastructure — that can operate for decades.

And much of the value associated with those assets remains local through engineering, installation, civil works, maintenance and industrial equipment.

In Bataille’s argument, electrification therefore becomes more than an energy transition. It becomes investment in Europe’s own industrial infrastructure and value chains.

This direction is now also reflected in EU policy. The European Commission’s 2026 Electrification Action Plan aims to increase electrification from 23% of energy use today to 46% by 2040, with the Commission estimating that this could reduce the EU’s fossil-fuel import bill by €260 billion per year by 2040.

So what is stopping Europe?

Technology is only part of the equation.

Bataille identifies several conditions for accelerating electrification: stable long-term regulation, stronger and smarter electricity grids, shorter connection times, better use of energy flexibility, a more favourable balance between electricity and fossil-fuel taxation, and greater deployment capacity across industrial supply chains.

Grid connections are particularly critical. An industrial company may be ready to electrify, but a connection timeline measured in years can make the investment impossible. The European Commission also identifies electricity costs, grid constraints, investment needs and policy uncertainty among the main barriers currently slowing industrial electrification.

Skills matter too. Scaling electrification means building experience across the companies and professionals responsible for installing and maintaining these technologies.

The opportunity is therefore already here.

Europe has low-carbon electricity. It has mature technologies. It has industrial expertise.

The question is whether it can deploy them quickly enough to turn electrification into what Bataille ultimately describes as both a competitiveness opportunity and a strategic imperative for Europe.

Looking for industrial electrification solutions? Explore the Global Industrie 2027 exhibitor list and discover the companies and technologies driving the transition.