The European Commission has announced the results of the largest funding round of its Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to date. More than €1.25bn in grants will support 41 cross-border energy infrastructure projects including three important wind energy-related projects as well as offshore electricity grids and hydrogen and CO₂ networks.

The CEF aims to integrate European energy markets and accelerate affordable decarbonisation across the EU. The projects selected for funding have obtained the status of Projects of Common Interest and Projects of Mutual Interest (PCIs and PMIs) in 2024 under the Trans-European Networks for Energy (TEN-E) policy framework.

More than half of the new funding round will support the Bornholm Energy Island project, which will construct a first-of-a-kind hybrid interconnector in the Baltic Sea. The interconnector will link Denmark and Germany and allow for the integration of 3 GW of offshore windfarm capacity.

To help decarbonise EU industry, hydrogen infrastructure will benefit from grants for 21 development studies amounting to over €250 million. It will help to alleviate investment risks associated with this nascent market and complement the hydrogen policy framework introduced in the Hydrogen and decarbonised gas market package.

Additionally, funding worth €250 million will support the construction of 3 projects and the financing of 9 preparatory studies for CO₂ infrastructure. The Prinos storage facility in Northern Greece will be awarded almost €120 million, thus contributing to the first carbon capture and storage value chain in the South-Eastern Mediterranean region. A second grant, for works worth €55 million, is destined for construction works of the North Sea L10 CO2 storage facility on the Dutch continental shelf. A third grant, for works of just below €12 million, will be awarded to the Norne CO2 facility in Denmark.

CEF-funded CO₂ projects are set to contribute to the 2030 target of 50 million tonnes of annual CO₂ injection capacity as underlined in the Net Zero Industry Act.

Read the full press release here.