The European Commission has approved a €217m investment in key trans-European energy infrastructure projects, mainly in Central and South Eastern Europe. In total, 15 projects were selected following a call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), an EU funding programme for infrastructure. Of the 15 proposals selected for funding, nine are in the gas sector (financial aid worth €207m) and six in electricity sector (€10m); 13 relate to studies, such as environmental impact assessments (€29m), and two to construction works (€188m).
The bulk of the investment (€181m) will be directed to the Southern Gas Priority Corridor (SGC). More than €179m will be directed to the construction of a gas pipeline from Bulgaria to Austria via Romania and Hungary, while €2.2m will be directed to a study for a gas pipeline from the European Union to Turkmenistan (expansion of the TANAP gas pipeline to the South Caucasus Pipeline and to the Trans Caspian Gas Pipeline).
More than €18m will be invested in North-South gas interconnections in Western Europe Priority Corridor (NSI West Gas), including around €8.7m in reversing the flow of the TENP gas pipeline in Germany, €5.6m in FEED studies for the the MidCat gas pipeline project between France and Spain (French part of €4.1m and Spanish part of €1.5m) and €4m for a FEED study for the development of the Islandmagee underground gas storage facility at Larne (Northern Ireland, United Kingdom).
More than €6.9m will be directed to studies related to the Northern Seas offshore grid Priority Corridor (NSOG): National Grid and RTE will receive nearly €6m for a study on the IFA2 power interconnection project between Chilling (UK) and Tourbe (France), while €0.95m will be directed to a feasibility study regarding the interconnector between Kassø (Denmark) and Audorf (Germany).
The North-South gas interconnection in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe Priority Corridor will receive more than €7m: €4.8m for the study on the interconnection Croatia - Slovenia (Bosiljevo - Karlovac - Lucko - Zabok - Rogatec (Slovenia), €1.4m for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Hungarian part of the Romania-Hungary-Austria transmission corridor and €0.85m for the rehabilitation, modernization and expansion of the Bulgariantransmission system.
The Czech power transmission network operator CEPS will receive €1.8m for the final project documentation of the electricity line Kocin-Mirovka, while its Slovak counterpart will get nearly €1.6m for studies on the interconnection project between Gőnyὒ (Hungary) and Gabčikovo (Slovakia) and on the interconnection between Sajovanka (Hungary) and Rimavska Sobota (Slovakia).
Finally, the Portuguese electricity network operator REN will receive €0.25m for the development of the internal (PT) Pedralva - Alfena 400 kV double circuit OHL line project.