Europe’sPowerGridsAreNotReadyforAI,EnvisionCEOSays

(Paris) — Europe’s push to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) at scale is exposing bottlenecks in its aging power grids, Envision founder and CEO Zhang Lei said, as the Chinese renewable energy company seeks a larger role in the region’s green industrial ambitions.

“If you look at the coming AI revolution, we need an energy revolution,” Zhang said during a panel at the VivaTech conference in Paris on June 17. “Every time in history, an industrial revolution always went along with an energy revolution.”

Europe needs dedicated renewable energy systems to support deep electrification and rising AI computing demand, Zhang said. “The current grid is not capable,” he said, adding that the ideal energy system for AI should be “off-grid, 100% renewable, and intelligent at extremely low cost.”

Envision has achieved power costs of 5 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour for an AI data center in the Gobi Desert, Zhang said, arguing that desert regions rich in wind and solar could become low-cost power bases for future computing demand.

At the event, the company launched Mission Gobi, a plan to build 5 gigawatts of green AI data center capacity in desert and arid regions by 2030.

The Shanghai-headquartered company, which produces wind turbines, energy storage systems and batteries, has become a major Chinese player in Europe’s clean-tech supply chain. Its majority-owned battery unit AESC built a 2 billion euro ($2.3 billion) gigafactory in Douai, northern France, last year to supply French carmaker Renault SA’s electric-vehicle (EV) lineup.

“It was quite a risk-taking challenge for us, to bet on Envision for its first massive gigafactory in France,” Renault Group CEO Francois Provost told the panel. “But I should say that this is a success.”

The partnership has helped Renault make its electric R5 SUV more competitive, he said. The Renault 5 E-Tech was the second best-selling EV in Europe’s passenger car market in 2025, according to a January statement by the automaker.

For Provost, the partnership is an example of how Europe can localize part of the EV value chain while working with Chinese partners. Zhang, meanwhile, called the project a case study in European green industrialization: “We made in Europe, with Europeans, for Europe.”

China remained the EU’s largest source of auto imports last year, with shipments surging about 30% year-on-year to exceed 1 million cars for the first time, according to European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association data, despite the European Union imposing countervailing duties on China-made EVs. Meanwhile, the value of wind turbine exports to the EU rose 65.9% in 2025, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

Source: European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association

Chinese companies’ expansion in Europe also comes as the region tries to decarbonize and reindustrialize without losing more ground to the U.S. and China.

In March, Brussels proposed the Industrial Accelerator Act, requiring EVs to be assembled within the EU and source at least 70% of their non-battery components locally to qualify for public procurement and government subsidies.

Still, executives warned that Europe’s industrial ambitions are being slowed by regulation, capital constraints and a lack of urgency.

Provost said Europe needs more pragmatism in its industrial policy, especially in the auto sector, where regulation has pushed up vehicle costs and made electric cars less affordable. He called for a freeze in some auto regulations for 10 years so engineers can focus on lowering costs rather than meeting constantly changing rules.

Slawomir Krupa, CEO of French bank Societe Generale SA, said Europe needs to build a stronger risk-taking culture and adjust its regulatory framework so banks can lend and invest more in long-term industrial projects. Public finances alone will not close the investment gap while much of Europe’s savings are still invested outside the region, he said at the panel.

Contact reporter Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)