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EU to invest EUR 263 million in energy infrastructure

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EU to invest EUR 263 million in energy infrastructure

28/09/2016

In July, EU Member States agreed on a proposal from the European Commission to invest EUR 263 million in key European energy infrastructure projects. Most of this investment will go towards supporting the building of gas infrastructure in the Baltic Sea region as well as supporting the electricity sector across Europe.

Nine projects were selected following a call for proposals under the EU funding support programme the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). Of the nine proposals selected for funding:

  • five are in the gas sector (EU support worth EUR 210 million) and four are in the electricity sector (EU support worth EUR 53 million).
  • three relate to construction works (EUR 236 million) and six to studies (EUR 27 million).

The selected priority projects aim to increase energy security, connect isolated EU Member States to the wider European grid and contribute to the Energy Union objectives of affordable, secure and sustainable energy.

European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said in a statement that well-connected energy infrastructure was essential to achieving the Energy Union. “This EU support will help fill existing gaps in energy infrastructure, putting us on the path to a truly connected European energy market. This is necessary to strengthen the security of energy supply and ensure a more efficient use of the energy resources and integration of renewables into the grid,” he said.

In the electricity sector, the European grants will cover the construction of a new 100 km electricity line between Dobrudja and Burgas in Bulgaria that will strengthen the resilience of the Bulgarian electricity grid. The European support to this new power line amounts to EUR 29.9 million.

Under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), a total of EUR 5.35 billion has been allocated to trans-European energy infrastructure for the period of 2014-2020, with a total of EUR 800 million available for grants under CEF-Energy in 2016. The second 2016 call for proposals, with an indicative budget of EUR 600 million, is currently ongoing and will close on 8 November.