Cross-border renewable energy studies projects

This topic aims at financing projects contributing to the goals and objectives of the European Green Deal, as well as the Paris Agreement and the 2030 climate and energy targets and the EU's objectives for climate neutrality, in accordance with recitals 5 and 30 of the CEF Regulation and in line with the Multi annual Work Programme. It is expected that the financial assistance contributes to the development and the implementation of CB RES projects, leading to cost-effective achievement of renewables target by 2030 in the EU (as referred to in Article 3 of Directive 2018/2001/EC) and to the strategic uptake of renewables technologies. Cross-border RES projects are an integral element of the enabling framework for regional and cross-border cooperation on renewables and facilitate cross border cooperation in the field of energy (as referred to in Article 3 of the CEF Regulation).

Based on the provisions of Article 7 and Annex Part IV of CEF Regulation, CB RES projects shall promote cross-border cooperation between Member States in the field of planning, development and the cost-effective exploitation of renewable energy sources, as well as facilitate their integration through energy storage facilities and with the aim of contributing to the Union’s long term decarbonisation strategy, completing the internal energy market and enhancing the security of supply.

This topic refers to projects for studies contributing to the implementation of a CB RES project. Studies (article 2 of CEF Regulation) in the meaning of CEF Energy include activities needed to prepare cross-border RES project implementation, such as preparatory, mapping, feasibility, evaluation, testing and validation studies, including in the form of software, and any other technical support measure, including prior action to define and develop a cross-border RES project and decide on its financing, such as exploration of the sites concerned and preparation of the financial package. A study could cover in-depth investigation and exploration of the risk factors of a project e.g. safety, technical, environmental, regulatory, economic or legal issues to determine whether and how the project should be implemented. While CEF Energy does not finance technological development, in justified cases, studies can include also pilot projects, such as pilot plants, that are eventually needed to test technologies that are at TRL 7-8, innovative processes or techniques. Such pilot projects should be strictly related to eligible components of the CB RES project. For more mature projects, a study may have the objective to move the project through the development stage to a Final Investment Decision (FID) and may include Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) studies, technical design studies, geophysical surveys, seabed surveys, tasks related to territorial planning, environmental assessments and comparable studies as applicable. Activities may also include stakeholder engagement and procurement for the construction phase. A study could also be used to set out in detail the operational aspects of a cooperation, such as the precise legal set up of the financing arrangement e.g. the cross-border tender or the regulatory set up of the cooperation project, or the arrangement on the allocation of costs and benefits between the participating counties. For each of the CB RES projects, the list of components that are included in the CB RES status can be found in the technical documentation16 supporting the Delegated Regulation that establishes the CB RES list. Proposals for studies can cover any of the elements of the CB RES status project contained in the technical documentation. While the focus of the study should be related to the renewable energy generation component of the project, in the case of projects with additional (non-RES generation) elements such as grid infrastructure, storage facilities, conversion of the renewable electricity, studies may also cover the interplay between those elements and the renewable energy component, if it is justified by the applicants that the effectiveness of the study will be higher when it captures the project set-up as a whole.