One billion to finance European electricity grid projects

Member states agree to give the green light to the European Commission’s request to invest one billion in ten key projects for the infrastructure of European electricity networks

The European Union continues to focus on the energy sector as one of the poles of economic and social recovery for the coming years. This is demonstrated by the approval of an investment allocation of nearly one billion euros that the member states have approved to undertake ten major projects related to the improvement of European electricity grids and their interconnection, as well as the reduction of the carbon footprint.

The proposal, which comes from the European Commission, will focus its efforts on various projects within the European Union’s strategy with the deployment of the Green Deal. Thus, this Thursday a vote will take place on the implementation of the Baltic synchronization project, with an investment of 720 million; five projects for the capture, transport, storage and use of CO2, with an amount close to 30 million euros; the implementation of a CO2 transport network, which will require an investment of 102 million; the development of a plan for a smart electricity grid in Hungary and the Slovak Republic, with an allocation of 102 million; the implementation of the electrical interconnection project between Bulgaria and Serbia, for which 28 million will be allocated; and finally, the development of the so-called North Sea Wind Power Hub, which will require an investment of 14 million.

The Green Deal as a focus of economic recovery

The European Green Deal, also known as the Green Deal, will be very present in the European strategy to face the economic consequences caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on the old continent. In a press release published in the last week of May, the European Commission announced the strategy of the body chaired by Ursula Von der Leyen to address this situation, which is embodied in a plan called “Next Generation EU”, and did so by highlighting the European Green Deal as one of its pillars of recovery. Von der Leyen made public a plan that, if approved by all member states, would put up to €750 billion on the table in subsidies and loans. Thus, Next Generation EU would also be strengthened by the EU’s long-term budgets for the period 2021-2027, which would increase the total financial capacity of the Union budget to €1.85 trillion. A significant impact on reforming European electricity grids, boosting the EU economy with the Green Deal, among others, as a pillar of growth.