Why is the global annual growth of renewables slowing? The whole energy system needs to change. Battery investments are massively accelerating. We can only understand the transition in a comprehensive systemic view. New "electronic" technologies based on quantum physics are providing new connections all across the system, between different types of energy, across time and space, between energy flows and digital information – leading to considerable improvements in efficiency, flexibility, resilience, and thereby costs. Economically, electrification, relying mainly on photovoltaics, and a change in the control paradigm towards flexible management and distributed decision-making is unavoidable in the long term. However, incumbent structures and procedures resist changes that threaten existing business models and control paradigms. Identifying these hidden battles can help avoiding dangerous transition delays. For Europe, the risks of delays lie not only in missing climate goals and rising costs but also in losing essential expertise and competitiveness across all sectors.