Consultation on the list of candidate for the 5th Projects of Common Interest in electricity and gas infrastructure

Public authorities, Member States authorities, individual companies, industry associations, Small and Medium Enterprises(s), consumer organisations, trade unions, NGOs, environmental organisations, consultancies, workers and employers' federations, other relevant stakeholders and citizens.

Objective of the consultation

Regulation (EU) no 347/2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure (the TEN-E Regulation) sets the framework for modernizing Europe’s aging infrastructure. As part of this framework, nine priority corridors and three thematic areas have been identified as requiring urgent infrastructure upgrades. The TEN-E Regulation also lays down the procedure and criteria for a project to become a Project of Common Interest (PCI) on any of these corridors and thematic areas.

Every two years, the European Union draws a list of Projects of Common Interest. The first four Union-wide lists were adopted in October 2013, November 2015, November 2017 and October 2019 respectively.

The identification and selection of PCIs is based on a regional approach, being carried out by Regional Groups consisting of representatives of competent ministries, national regulatory authorities, individual gas and electricity transmission system operators and other project promoters, the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO) for electricity and gas, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators and the European Commission. The meetings of the Regional Groups are open to all interested parties, such as environmental and consumer organisations and representatives of civil society, who are invited, consulted and expected to contribute to the work carried out within these groups.

Every two years, the PCI process kicks off with the project submission phase. Project promoters submit their project proposals for electricity, gas, smart grids, oil and CO2 networks to the dedicated Regional Groups for assessment. These project proposals become candidates for the status of Project of Common Interest. Regional Groups evaluate the projects against the general and specific criteria as defined in the TEN-E Regulation, focusing especially on the contribution of these projects to market integration, sustainability, security of supply and competition. In view of preparing the fifth Union list of Projects of Common Interest expected in November 2021, the assessment will be carried out in spring 2021 and the Regional Groups will decide on the Regional PCI lists in June 2021.

The objective of this consultation is to seek your views on the specific candidate projects in electricity and their individual contributions to market integration, sustainability, security of supply and competition from an EU energy policy perspective.

The list of candidate projects includes information and internet links to the proposed projects, which provide detailed technical information. Additional information on electricity projects can be found on the European Network of Transmission System Operators in Electricity (ENTSO-E) and European Network of Transmission System Operators in Electricity (ENTSO-G) websites

How to submit your contribution

We welcome contributions from citizens, organisations and public authorities by way of 2 online questionnaires for candidate projects in electricity infrastructure and gas infrastructure.

In addition, respondents can also submit position papers to the functional mailbox:

ENER-C4-PROJECTSec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ENER-C4-PROJECTS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

Consultation documents

• List of candidate Projects of Common Interest in electricity
• List of candidate Projects of Common Interest in gas
• Specific privacy statement Projects of Common Interest in electricity
• Specific privacy statement Projects of Common Interest in gas

Contact

Responsible service: DG Energy, Unit B1 Internal Market I: Networks and Regional Initiatives

E-mail: ENER-C4-PROJECTSec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ENER-C4-PROJECTS[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

Postal address:
European Commission
Directorate-General for Energy
Unit C4: Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium