The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union sent new proposals for the revision of the EU Regulation (347/2013) on Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) to the Member States on 17, 23 and 24 March. These include Article 4 of the regulation establishing the criteria that an energy infrastructure project must meet to be considered a ‘project of common interest’ (PCI) or a ‘project of mutual interest’ (PMI).
This is therefore a particularly important article, as once a project is included on the PCI list, it becomes eligible for a number of benefits, including EU financial support under the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF).
The presence of gas projects on the fourth list of PCIs was the subject of intense debate in the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12424/6, 12417/7).
Amendments proposed by the Presidency
Compared to the revision proposal presented by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12623/3, 12618/9), the Portuguese Presidency is suggesting, among other things, changes to the criteria that apply to PCIs in specific energy infrastructure categories.
Thus, for hydrogen projects, Lisbon proposes that the main criterion should no longer be to make a significant contribution to sustainability “by enhancing the deployment of renewable hydrogen”, but rather to “contribute significantly to sustainability by enhancing the deployment of hydrogen (...) with emphasis on hydrogen from renewable sources or other safe and sustainable low carbon technologies”.
According to the Presidency, one of the indicators for measuring the sustainability of a hydrogen project should be its contribution to “the integration of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, with a view to meeting market needs and promoting renewable hydrogen”.
These formulations leave more room for low-carbon hydrogen projects, i.e. hydrogen produced from fossil fuel in combination with CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technologies or from electricity supplied by nuclear power plants.
The same applies to electrolyser projects: the Presidency is of the opinion that the sustainability criterion should include promoting the deployment of renewable “or low carbon” hydrogen.
For projects concerning smart electricity grids, Lisbon proposes that projects “facilitating smart energy sector integration” and meeting one of the other three criteria set out by the Commission (in addition to the requirement of making a significant contribution to sustainability) should be eligible for inclusion on the PCI list.
Furthermore, the Presidency suggests that energy infrastructure projects located on islands not sufficiently connected to the Trans-European Energy Networks and contributing significantly to the decarbonisation objectives and sustainability of the territory in which they are located could also be considered as PCIs.
See the Portuguese Presidency’s new proposals: https://bit.ly/3ck9NND; https://bit.ly/3lQ9BsF; https://bit.ly/3d6g2UD (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)