Harmonized product specifications align technical requirements for equipment used across the power system so that manufacturers can serve multiple buyers with more standardized products rather than adapting designs to different customer-specific requirements. Utilities, system operators, developers, manufacturers and other buyers can collaborate through industry associations, joint roadmaps, technical working groups or formal cooperation agreements to identify requirements that can be aligned across organizations or markets. 

In practice, this can involve comparing existing specifications, agreeing common product characteristics and specification templates, harmonizing testing and qualification procedures, and incorporating the resulting requirements into future tenders. Manufacturers and testing bodies provide technical input on what can be produced and qualified consistently at scale, while standards organizations can translate mature approaches into recognized standards. Differences can be retained where local system conditions, safety requirements or applications require them. 

Harmonization can cover areas such as product characteristics, dimensions, ratings, interfaces, testing and qualification requirements, and the structure of procurement specifications. By reducing unnecessary variation, manufacturers can limit repeated engineering and customization, simplify production and serve a larger addressable market with common product designs. This can support more efficient use of manufacturing capacity, facilitate supplier participation and provide a clearer basis for investment in additional capacity where demand is growing. The approach can be applied across power-system technologies where fragmented buyer requirements constrain scalable production. 

Harmonization does not require every product or application to become identical – common requirements can be established where standardization creates value while preserving specifications needed for safety, performance or local operating conditions. The benefits also need to be weighed against transition and legacy costs, including the requalification of products and suppliers and the continued maintenance of installed equipment built to previous specifications.

Main Outcomes of the Solution

• Affordability: Reduced bespoke engineering, testing and manufacturing requirements can lower procurement and delivery costs and enable greater production scale.
• Business Value: Common specifications can expand the addressable market for standardized products, provide clearer demand signals and strengthen the case for investment in manufacturing capacity. 
• Institutional Efficiency & Transparency: Shared technical requirements can simplify procurement and qualification and provide buyers and suppliers with a clearer, more consistent basis for product assessment.

Key Deployment and Scaling Factors

1. Buyers should focus harmonization on requirements where greater production scale, supplier participation and reduced customization outweigh the costs of switching from established specifications.
2. Utilities, system operators, developers and manufacturers should use joint technical working groups or industry-led processes to compare existing specifications, identify unnecessary differences and agree common requirements that can be incorporated into procurement.
3. Manufacturers, testing bodies and standards organizations should be involved early to ensure common specifications are technically feasible, compatible with established standards and supported by practical testing and qualification procedures.
4. Harmonized specifications need sufficiently broad and consistent adoption across buyers to create meaningful demand aggregation and give manufacturers confidence to standardize production or invest in additional capacity.
5. Procurement and regulatory frameworks should enable the use of harmonized specifications while preserving competition and allowing justified deviations for safety, performance and local system requirements.
6. Transition and lifecycle costs should be planned for, including product and supplier requalification, changes to procurement or manufacturing processes, and continued access to spare parts, maintenance capabilities and technical expertise for legacy equipment.

Case study

ENTSO-E, EU DSO Entity, T&D Europe and Europacable (2025), Europe

Under Action 13 of the European Commission's 2023 Grid Action Plan, ENTSO-E, EU DSO Entity, T&D Europe and Europacable established a joint initiative to reduce unnecessary differences in technical requirements for grid equipment and improve visibility of equipment needs. Their Roadmap Towards Future-Proof Grids, published in June 2025, set out actions covering technical requirements, specification templates, testing and qualification, equipment-demand visibility and public procurement. 

For high-voltage direct current (HVDC) projects, ENTSO-E and T&D Europe subsequently developed a common structure for high-level project specifications while retaining flexibility for project-specific requirements. A draft common template for point-to-point HVDC project tenders was opened for industry consultation in June 2026, with ENTSO-E stating that the work would contribute to future harmonization and standardization efforts. 

In parallel, ENTSO-E worked with transmission system operators (TSOs) and Europacable to align testing and qualification approaches for 525 kV HVDC land and submarine cable systems. By 2026, the working group had assessed 21 prequalification testing items and reached alignment on 15, compared with four at the start of the process. ENTSO-E subsequently consulted on a draft European assessment framework covering prequalification, type testing and range-of-approval methodologies, designed to provide a more harmonized technical basis while remaining consistent with International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards and International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE) recommendations. 

The initiative illustrates how coordination between system operators, manufacturers, testing organizations and standards bodies can reduce unnecessary differences in specifications and qualification practices while preserving requirements justified by individual projects.

References:

1. Public Consultation on the Assessment Framework for Pre-Qualification and Testing- European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity