Hezelburcht Group exceptionally successful in CEF-Energy: it’s electrifying!
The European Commission (EC) has published the results of the latest CEF Energy call for proposals. And wow, what a result our colleagues have achieved for our clients! Of our applications, seven out of eight were approved(!). These projects together represent approximately € 750 million in grant funding. That accounts for around 60% of the total funding allocation of € 1.25 billion in this CEF-Energy call for proposals.
Building an ‘Energy Union’
The EC is investing in cross-border energy infrastructure projects to maintain a competitive position and to make the EU energy system carbon-free. The selected projects received ‘PCI status’ last year. This means they are recognised as projects of common and mutual interest, contributing to the improvement of the Trans-European Energy Network (TEN-E). In total, the 41 selected projects will receive € 1.25 billion in funding from this CEF-Energy call for proposals. This is also the largest funding allocation ever within a CEF-Energy call, significantly exceeding the indicative budget of € 850 million. The EC refers to it as ‘Building an Energy Union’ in the title of their press release.
The Projects
The € 1.25 billion is distributed across 41 projects, of which 5 are ‘works’ and 36 are ‘studies’. The projects are divided within the following themes:
Electricity Networks (offshore and smart grids)
There is funding for eight projects related to offshore and smart-grid electricity networks. The largest allocation, which absorbs more than half of the total budget, is for the Bornholm Energy Island project from our partners Energinet and 50hertz. They are building an innovative hybrid interconnector in the Baltic Sea that connects Denmark and Germany, integrating 3 GW of offshore wind capacity.
Hydrogen Infrastructure
Hydrogen is, of course, a key technology for making our energy network more sustainable. 21 projects are development studies on this topic and will receive a total of over € 250 million in funding in this call. In this area, we have assisted GRTGaz in applying for funding for hydrogen network studies HY-FEN and RHYn, both studies are located in France and Germany.
CO2 Infrastructure (CO2 capture, transport, and storage)
Additionally, around € 250 million of CEF-Energy funding has been allocated to three construction projects and nine preparatory studies related to CO2 infrastructure and storage. These include the construction project of the CO2 storage facility L10 in the North Sea by our partner Eni Netherlands, and the innovative Rhone project by SPSE to capture, transport, liquefy, and store CO2 emissions. Our partner GRTGaz is launching a study for a CO2 infrastructure project with their GOCO2 initiative. Gasunie and OGE will begin a study for a cross-border CO2 transport project: Delta Rhine Corridor_CO2.
Grant Agreements
The formal grant award will follow shortly and our partners will start working on the ‘Grant Agreement’ preparations. The Grant Agreement includes important terms between the funder and the recipients, such as the project duration, the amount, reporting milestones, project content, and more. Once the Grant Agreement is signed, we can begin building an ‘Energy Union’. Best of luck to all our partners!
