Europan Commission opens €200 million call for energy infrastructure projects (Connecting Europe Facility)

The Commission opened a call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to help finance key EU energy infrastructure projects. €200 million will be made available for projects aiming to eliminate bottlenecks that prevent the free flow of energy across EU countries.

The grants will contribute to carrying out both studies and construction works. However, proposals for works can only receive grants if the project will deliver significant benefits in a macro-regional context, such as security of supply, solidarity between Member States or innovation, while not being commercially viable.

With a total of €800 million available for grants in 2016, this is the first of two calls planned for this year. The deadline to submit applications is 28 April 2016. An info day for project promoters will be organised on 7 April. A decision on the selection of proposals to be funded is expected to be announced by the end of July.

In order to apply for a grant, a proposed project must feature on the list of 'projects of common interest'. An updated list was published in November 2015. It consists of 195 key energy infrastructure projects which are considered essential to completing the EU's internal energy market, boosting competition and contributing to the EU's energy and climate goals. When completed, each project should deliver significant benefits for at least two Member States.

The amount of EU support cannot exceed 50% of the eligible costs. If support is attributed to works, and only in exceptional cases when a project contributes significantly to the security of supply, enhances energy solidarity between Member States or offers highly innovative solutions, EU support may be increased to a maximum of 75% of the costs.