Members States, on the 16.07.2018 agreed on the investment of EUR 48 mln in several infrastructure projects across the entire EU. This sum will be divided between 8 proposals to undertake studies, of which 4 are in the electricity sector, 2 in the gas sector, 1 for smart grids, and 1 for carbon capture technology.
Funds designated for this investment come from the Connecting Europe Facility – the European support programme for trans-European infrastructure. This support comes under the first CEF energy call for 2018. Eligible for support projects are enlisted on the PCI list published in November 2017.
Within 8 projects 3 are from Central European region of total value of EUR 22 mln.
Particular projects include:
- Study concerning reinforcement of the national gas transmission systems in Poland and Denmark for the Baltic Pipe Project (EUR 18.300.000);
- Evaluation of suitability of different technological solutions and socioeconomic analysis of capacity increase of hydro-pumped electricity storage in Lithuania – Kruonis (EUR 77 000);
- EIA and design studies for 400 kV line between Stanisławów and Ostrołęka key to double the capacity of the existing link and synchronization of Baltic States with the EU (EUR 3.489.474).
In total The Connecting Europe Facility (Energy) already granted €647 million to 34 projects in 2014, €366 million to 35 projects in 2015, €707 million to 27 projects in 2016, and €873 million to 17 projects in 2017. This initiative will be continued within new multi annual financial framework 2021-2027 where €42.3 billion are spearheaded the CEF, out of these, €8.7 billion will be for energy investements.