On Wednesday 26 April, the European Commission announced that it had launched a call for proposals for 2017 under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), to facilitate the financing of energy infrastructure projects of common interest (PCI) in electricity, gas and smart grids.
The call for proposals will run until 12 October. The proposals will be evaluated in November and December, the consultation within the CEF committee and communication to the European Parliament will take place in January-February 2018 and the decision on adopting the selection and then the signing of the subsidy agreements is expected for February 2018.
The projects proposed, which may be studies or construction work, will be assessed on the basis of several criteria: their state of maturity, their cross-border dimension, the contribution they will make to removing bottlenecks in energy flows, their contribution to the security of supply, their support for the integration of renewable sources and the development of smart grids, their contribution to the connection of countries suffering from energy isolation.
To qualify, projects must feature on the revised list of PCIs which was adopted in November 2015 (see EUROPE 11433). This list comprises 195 key infrastructure projects considered essential for the completion of the single energy market and which must provide at least two member states with substantial benefits, improve the security of supply, help integrate the market and reinforce competition or increase sustainability.
The CEF is making available total financing of €5.35 billion for energy infrastructure over the period 2014-2020. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)