Guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure

KEY POINTS

Trans-European networks for energy

• The trans-European networks for energy (TEN-E) link the energy infrastructures of Member States.
• The TEN-E include a number of priority corridors and areas and priority thematic areas such as smart electricity grid deployment.
• The regulation revises the rules for the TEN-E, including the rules for identifying projects of common interest and projects of mutual interest (projects promoted by the Member States in cooperation with non-EU countries).

Objectives

The revised rules are designed to achieve a number of goals, including the following.

• Encouraging investment in hydrogen and carbon dioxide networks and the development of offshore networks.
• Ending support for new natural gas and oil projects and introducing mandatory sustainability criteria for all projects.
• Simplifying and speeding up permit and authorisation procedures, including the creation of a single contact point per project for permits and authorisations.
• Allowing, during a transitional period until 31 December 2029, the use of hydrogen assets converted from natural gas assets for transport or storage of a predefined mixture of hydrogen with natural gas or biomethane.
• For Cyprus and Malta, allowing projects that have the status of projects of common interest to maintain their status until Cyprus and Malta are interconnected to the trans-European gas network, as these Member States are not interconnected to that network. This derogation will apply to each of these Member States until it is directly interconnected to the trans-European gas network or until 31 December 2029.
• Highlighting the role of energy from renewable sources in relation to all assets, including smart gas grids.
• Creating a non-binding cooperation possibility in the field of offshore grid planning.
• Strengthening the TEN-E governance process by enhancing the role of relevant stakeholders – the consultation must be open, transparent and organised to allow for feedback in preparing the key phases of the EU-wide 10-year network development plans. The European Networks of Transmission Systems Operators for electricity and for gas must take into consideration the input received from stakeholders during consultations and should explain how they took that input into account.

The regulation amends Regulations (EU) 2019/943 (see summary) and 2019/942 (see summary) and Directive (EU) 2019/944 (see summary), and repeals Regulation (EU) No 347/2013.