On Wednesday 4 January, the European Commission published documents listing energy infrastructure projects that are candidates for the EU’s next list of ‘Projects of Common Interest’ (PCI) and ‘Projects of Mutual Interest’ (PMI).
The list is drawn up every two years and aims to select: - cross-border energy projects needed to implement the EU energy infrastructure corridors and priority areas (PCI); - mutually beneficial energy projects linking EU networks to those of third countries (PMI).
In order to be included in the list, applicant projects must meet a number of criteria set out in the new EU Regulation (2022/869) on trans-European energy networks (TEN-E - see EUROPE 12854/4). This will therefore be the first list of PCI and PMI developed under the revised Regulation.
Achieving PCI or PMI status then allows applicant projects to benefit from fast-track authorisation procedures and to become eligible for European funding under the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF).
A multitude of hydrogen-related projects
Of the candidate projects, 147 are hydrogen-related and 32 are electrolyser projects. These include projects concerning new and converted hydrogen pipelines for hydrogen transport.
The ‘Electricity Transmission and Storage’ category has 93 candidate projects, of which 19 are for PMI status and 74 for PCI status (20 storage-related and 54 transmission-related).
The rest of the candidate projects consist of projects related to CO2 (18 projects), and the modernisation/digitisation of electricity (6) and gas (4) networks.
Review of candidate projects
In order to assess the relevance of the candidate projects, the Commission has opened a public consultation which will close on 16 March.
The opinions collected will then be presented to the regional groups in charge of evaluating the applications (according to the criteria set by the new TEN-E regulation) and selecting the projects to be included in the list of PCI and PMI. These groups consist of representatives from the relevant ministries, national regulatory authorities, electricity and gas transmission system operators and other project developers, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSOE) and Gas (ENTSOG), the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the Commission.
To access the lists of candidate projects: https://aeur.eu/f/4t0 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)