8th Grid Services & Markets Conference - GSM 2026, Lucerne (Switzerland). 29-30 June 2026
Summary:
Meeting the EU's ambitious energy savings targets under the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) requires exploiting all viable measures, including the accelerated replacement of ageing, inefficient distribution transformers. This paper presents initial insights from the LIFE-supported EU-TRACE project, which started in September 2025 and will run until March 2028. EU-TRACE seeks to develop policy recommendations to unlock the substantial energy savings potential of replacing legacy transformers with Ecodesign-compliant units.
Modern, Ecodesign compliant distribution transformers offer significantly reduced energy losses through advances in core materials, winding design, and cooling systems. Despite the clear benefit, current EU regulatory frameworks do not explicitly incentivise early replacement. For DSO-owned transformers, revenue-cap mechanisms may discourage capital expenditure where efficiency benefits are not adequately reflected in remuneration. For transformers owned by electricity end-users, split incentives and limited awareness – among other barriers – hinder a swift uptake of Ecodesign compliant units. Closing this gap requires targeted regulatory adjustments for DSOs (supported by art. 27 of the EED), and dedicated incentive mechanisms for electricity end-users (under art. 8 of the EED). Impact estimates based on available data suggest that accelerating replacement from a 2.2% to a 3.5% annual rate could deliver additional electricity savings of 2.1 TWh per year over a 20-year horizon.
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Spanish layman's summary:
EU-TRACE investiga cómo sustituir transformadores de distribución por alternativas eficientes e inteligentes para reducir pérdidas energéticas y apoyar la transición energética. El proyecto analiza barreras regulatorias, tecnologías avanzadas y herramientas de modelización para evaluar sus beneficios.
English layman's summary:
EU-TRACE investigates how replacing distribution transformers with efficient, smart alternatives can reduce energy losses and support the energy transition. The project examines regulatory barriers, advanced transformer technologies, and modelling tools for assessing their benefits.
DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23055412
Publication date: 29-Jun-2026.
Citation:
M. Martínez, T. Jezdinsky, R. Barkhausen, J. Hack, J. Fong, A.T. Almeida, B. de Wachter, "Project EU-TRACE: anticipated replacement of old distribution transformers", presented at 8th Grid Services & Markets Conference - GSM 2026, Lucerne, Switzerland, 29-30 June 2026
IIT-26-338C
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