About Us
The Department of Energy’s Office of International Affairs coordinates the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC), an international platform designed to provide policymakers and civil-society stakeholders within Eastern and Central Europe with the resources and technical tools to build secure, resilient, climate-conscious energy systems. The United States, 24 European countries and the European Union, participate in the P-TECC initiative. Support for European-based energy security efforts, including the European Union’s Energy Union framework and the Three Seas Initiative, is a cornerstone of the P-TECC initiative.
Our Partners
Countries and organizations participating in P-TECC include: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, the European Union, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and the United States.
What We Do
P-TECC focuses on technical collaboration in a number of key areas, including:
- Improving energy efficiency and clean energy deployment, including in the renewable energy, nuclear energy, and carbon management sectors;
- Supporting energy cybersecurity best practices;
- Promoting new capital investment in key energy infrastructure;
- Climate impact prediction, risk mapping, and adaptation planning; and
- Providing analysis and vulnerability assessments for electricity and gas transmission systems
- Creating a winter action plan for Moldova to help the country diversify its supplies and reduce its needs for Russian natural gas during its most vulnerable season.
- Cybersecurity workshops conducted with Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, focusing on enhancing the ability of energy sector operators to prepare for a cyberattack on equipment.
- Electric grid vulnerability assessment for Montenegro as part of a larger aim at energy resilience technical support.
Resources
E-TEAM
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Europe Technical Expert Advisory Mission (E-TEAM) program assists P-TECC members in developing resilient and secure energy systems. Under the E-TEAM program, DOE through the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) deploys specialized teams on short notice to conduct assessments and provide advice on a range of climate and energy security topics. Learn more about the laboratory’s work here: Global Energy Security - Argonne National Laboratory (anl.gov | Climate and Energy Action).
Cybersecurity
The U.S. Department of Energy has provided support to P-TECC partner countries in cybersecurity of electricity and gas grid infrastructure through Idaho National Laboratory (INL), a world leader in securing industrial control systems from cyber threats. With more than 20 years of technical expertise, dedicated laboratories, and a full-scale test range, INL is positioned to help government, industry, and academia solve pressing infrastructure security challenges. Learn more about the laboratory’s work here: INL - National Security Cyber Training.
P-TECC Ministerial Meetings
First Ministerial
The inaugural P-TECC Ministerial meeting convened in October 2019 in Houston, Texas. Initially called the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC), the Ministerial meeting set the framework for an initiative designed to support the energy infrastructure, interconnection, and security goals of the Eastern and Central European region. Ministers and other senior representatives from eighteen Central and Eastern European countries participated, as did the European Commission.
Second Ministerial
Lithuania’s Ministry of Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy hosted the second Ministerial of the then-Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC) in October 2019 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Twenty-two countries, the European Commission, and the United States participated in the program, and included the formation of four Working Groups to drive discussions in areas of mutual interest: critical energy infrastructure, energy efficiency and renewable energy, nuclear energy, and security of energy supply.
Third Ministerial
The Department relaunched the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC) in September 2021 in Warsaw, Poland. The program focused on setting climate action and a just transition to a low-carbon future, while continuing the core of P-TECC’s mission of deploying innovative clean energy technologies that create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.
Fourth Ministerial
The Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation, co-hosted by the Croatian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and supported by the Atlantic Council and the American-Central European Business Association, took place on March 1-2, 2023, in Zagreb, Croatia. The event included a live-streamed Business Forum, followed by the Ministerial. This year’s event focused on European energy security, physical and cybersecurity, grid optimization, the advancement of geothermal energy, and strategies to support the rebuilding of Ukraine’s energy sector.