On Wednesday 28 January, the European Commission announced that it would be allocating €650 million to 14 cross-border energy infrastructure projects in the form of grants under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
The funding granted goes beyond the initial indicative budget of €600 million, as part of the second call for proposals under the first list of projects of common interest and projects of mutual interest (PCI/PMI).
Nearly €470 million will be allocated to six electricity projects. The largest grant (€180 million) is for the AGUAYO II project to build a reversible pumped storage hydroelectric power plant in Spain.
Nearly €113 million will be allocated to protect critical infrastructure implemented by the transmission system operators in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland, following the Baltic countries’ synchronisation with continental Europe’s electricity grid at the beginning of 2025.
“This funding (...) sets a new precedent, as until now the European Union had no dedicated financing for the protection of critical energy infrastructure”, welcomed Lithuania’s Minister of Energy Žygimantas Vaičiūnas.
In addition, more than €176 million will be devoted to developing hydrogen infrastructures, including a €20 million grant for the hydrogen storage project in Gronau, Germany.
The funding decision was approved by the CEF Coordination Committee on 15 January.
The next CEF call for proposals for energy infrastructure is scheduled for the second quarter of 2026.
To see the list of selected projects: https://aeur.eu/f/kgc (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)