The Competitiveness Council on Monday (24 July) adopted a revised set of rules guiding the completion of trans-European gas and electricity network projects aimed at easing cross-border energy transmission in the enlarged EU.
"The new rules will make authorisation procedures easier and attract the necessary investment for cross-border projects of high European interest", said EU energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. "In particular, the guidelines integrate fully the ten new Member States into the network and present 42 projects of European interest."
In total, 164 projects for electricity and 122 for gas are listed as being "of common interest". For gas, they include new LNG terminals and new pipelines to link Europe to Algeria, Russia and the Middle East. For electricity, they involve boosting France's interconnection with Belgium, Germany, Spain and Italy as well as a sub-sea cable linking South East England to The Netherlands.
Gas and electricity infrastructure projects are to be financed by member states and market participants with the EU providing cash mainly to cover feasibility studies. Projects involving neighbouring countries such as Ukraine and other EU applicant countries are also to be encouraged, the Council said in a statement.
Priority projects shall be selected if they meet one or more of the following criteria:
- they have "a significant impact" on increasing competition in the internal market;
- they "strengthen security of [energy] supply" in the EU;
- they "result in an increase in the use of renewable energies".
In one of the most disputed issues, it was decided that a European coordinator should be appointed "at the request of the Member States concerned" in cases where "projects encounter implementation difficulties". The Commission's initial proposal was to make these appointments systematic.
The revised guidelines state that electricity networks should be adapted "to facilitate the integration and connection of renewable energy production" including large-scale wind energy. They should also be designed in a way which is compatible with those of other countries in the wider European region in order to facilitate their integration.
The new electricity networks will help reach the EU target to increase the level of electricity interconnection to "at least 10% of member states' installed production capacity".
Concerning gas pipelines, they should also be made compatible with transmission networks of potential new suppliers in the "Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and Caspian Sea basins, as well as in the Middle East and the Gulf regions" to facilitate diversification of supply routes.
