The ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (Coreper) approved, on Wednesday 22 December, the provisional agreement reached between the negotiators of the European Parliament and of the EU Council on the revision of the Trans-European Energy Network (TEN-E) Regulation (347/2013).
Dating back to 2013, this Regulation sets out the criteria and selection process for the formation of the list of ‘Projects of Common Interest’ (PCIs), which allow trans-European energy infrastructure projects to benefit from advantages such as fast-track administrative processing and eligibility for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
While the European Commission had proposed to exclude all fossil gas projects from the scope of the regulation, the provisional agreement - previously detailed in our columns (see EUROPE 12854/14) - includes a derogation for Malta and Cyprus.
In addition, projects on the fifth PCI list for which an application has been accepted for examination by the competent authority will continue to benefit from accelerated authorisation procedures for a period of four years after the entry into force of the revised Regulation.
The agreement also includes a transitional period for retrofitted gas infrastructure for the transport or storage of a predefined ‘blending’ of hydrogen and fossil gas or biomethane while redefining the selection procedure for PCIs (see EUROPE 12854/14).
Scope of application
At the request of the Parliament, the co-legislators agreed to create a new infrastructure category for smart gas network projects. The objective: “To support investments which integrate a plurality of low-carbon and particularly renewable gases such as biogas, biomethane, and hydrogen, in the gas network and help manage a resulting more complex system, building on innovative digital technologies”.
The Parliament’s proposal to create a new category for heating and cooling systems was not adopted.
Furthermore, the provisional agreement covers not only projects related to the transport of CO2 (Commission proposal), but also those related to its storage (Parliament request). However, storage projects will only be eligible for funding if they are linked to the cross-border transport of CO2.
Regarding the category of electrolysers, the project will have to have a capacity of at least 50 MW (the Commission proposed 100 MW) supplied by a single electrolyser or by a set of electrolysers forming a single coordinated project. While they will be eligible for accelerated authorisation procedures, electrolysers will not be eligible for funding.
Next steps
The vote in the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is scheduled for 26 January, with a view to a vote in plenary and adoption of the agreement at ministerial level thereafter.
According to our information, a small minority of Member States have already indicated their intention to abstain when the agreement is adopted by the ministers.
See the text of the agreement: https://bit.ly/3srCoco (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)