What is a cross-border project in the field of renewable energy?

In order to meet the EU decarbonisation targets, the EU Member States committed to achieve at least 32% of renewable energy in the EU’s final energy consumption by 2030. This means that they have to increase the share of energy from renewable sources in their respective energy mixes. To do so, apart from purely domestic actions, an EU Member State may choose to cooperate with other countries within the EU or beyond.

Such cooperation mechanisms for available translations of the preceding, as set up in the Renewable Energy Directive for available translations of the preceding, can take form of joint projects, joint support schemes, or statistical transfers.

The new CEF programme (Connecting Europe Facility) provides an enabling framework to support cross-border cooperation in the field of renewable energy and introduces the concept of cross-border renewable energy projects.

In order for such a cooperation initiative to become a cross-border renewable energy project (CB RES project) it should fulfil the criteria set out in Part IV of the Annex to the CEF Regulation. These criteria refer to the cooperation arrangement, as well as cost savings and potential overall net benefits that the project would provide.

What type of projects do we expect?

Cross-border renewable energy projects aim to enable the cost-effective deployment of renewable energy. Any project meeting the criteria may obtain the status of cross-border renewable energy project (CB RES status) and therefore enter a list of projects eligible for CEF funding (CB RES list).

In the current call for CB RES status, we expect applications from projects that promote cross-border cooperation between EU Member States in the field of renewable energy, as well as projects facilitating RES integration through energy storage facilities and contributing both to the strategic uptake of innovative renewables technologies and to the EU’s long term decarbonisation strategy.

CB RES projects do not necessarily entail a physical link between the cooperating Member States and can be located in the territory of only one of the Member States involved, provided that the general criteria of Part IV of the Annex to this Regulation apply.

CB RES projects should contribute to generation of renewable energy from, for example, on- and offshore wind, solar energy, sustainable biomass, ocean energy, geothermal energy or combinations thereof, their connection to the grid and additional elements such as storage or conversion facilities. CB RES projects are not limited to the electricity sector and can cover other energy carriers and potential sector coupling with, for example, heating and cooling, power-to-gas, storage and transport. This list is non-exhaustive.

Read here for full details.