The European Commission (EC) has opened a call for electricity projects to be submitted as candidates for the fourth European Union ‘Projects of Common Interest‘ (PCIs) list. The deadline for the applications is November 15, the EC said on its website.

The PCIs list will be adopted by the EC by the end of 2019 and published in the Official Journal by early 2020.

In accordance with the Regulation on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure (No 347/2013), candidate projects in electricity must be included in the Ten Year Network Development Plans (TYNDP) developed by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for electricity (ENTSO-E).

Promoters of TYNPD projects wishing to become PCIs are now invited to participate in the call by submitting an application via the on-line submission platforms for transmission and storage projects.

Calls for PCI candidates in the priority corridors for gas, smart grids, cross-border carbon dioxide network, and oil will follow, EC said.

PCIs may benefit from accelerated planning and permit granting, a single national authority for obtaining permits, improved regulatory conditions, lower administrative costs due to streamlined environmental assessment processes, increased public participation via consultations, and increased visibility to investors. These projects have the right to apply for funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

According to EC, PCIs have access to a total of EUR 5.35 billion in funding from the CEF, the EU’s EUR 30 billion fund for boosting energy, transport, and digital infrastructure between 2014 and 2020.

Electricity corridors to connect the region

In November 2017 the EC published its third list of PCIs, which contains 173 projects; 106 electricity transmission and storage, 4 smart grid deployment, 53 gas, 6 oil, 4 cross-border carbon dioxide network.

Serbia has one electricity project, interconnection line Resita (Romania)-Pančevo (Serbia), part of the Trans-Balkan Corridor which will connect Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Italy through either 400 kV overhead lines or submarine cable.

On the third PCIs list Bulgaria has 2 electricity projects, Romania 2, Greece 1 (Euroasia Interconnector), Cyprus 1 (Euroasia Interconnector), and Montenegro 1 (Trans-Balkan Corridor).