INVESTMENT OF €873 MILLION IN KEY EUROPEAN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

Europe’s transition to a clean and modern economy is the goal of the Energy Union. In January 2018 the EU decided to support 17 selected electricity and gas projects to upgrade and make the European energy system more competitive that will ultimately deliver cheaper and secure energy to all European consumers. The EU funding for the chosen projects comes from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

The selected projects are including 8 in the electricity sector (€680 million) and 9 in the gas sector (€193 million), involving construction works and studies.In the electricity sector €578 million (which is the largest Connecting Europe Facility-Energy grant ever awarded), will be awarded to the construction of the Biscay Gulf France-Spain interconnection. This new link will nearly double the interconnection capacity between both countries.

SuedOstLink, one of the largest German energy infrastructure projects, will receive €70 million for activities to enable the construction works to start. The project consists of 580 kilometres of high-voltage cables laid fully underground.

In the gas sector, the CEF will support infrastructure projects; i.e. the CyprusGas2EU project (EU support €101 million), and the Malta-Italy Gas Interconnection.

The Commission will also invest in studies to support the synchronisation of the Baltics with the central European electricity network. This decision is of key importance for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to agree on the way forward to find, by the end of May 2018 at the latest, a solution on the best way to synchronise the Baltic states’ electricity grid with the continental Europe system.