The European Commission launched a public consultation on its review of Regulation 347/2013 on guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure (the TEN-E Regulation) on 18 May 2020. The public consultation is accompanied by a targeted, more technical consultation aimed at stakeholders with specialist knowledge of the TEN-E Regulation. Both consultations will be open for eight weeks, with submissions due by 13 July 2020.

Background

On 11 December 2019, the European Commission adopted the European Green Deal (the Green Deal), and presented its communication on the Green Deal to the European Parliament. The Green Deal sets out overarching objectives that will inform EU legislation and policy going forward. The objectives include achieving climate neutrality by 2050, mainstreaming sustainability and promoting “nature-based solutions”.

The Green Deal highlights the importance of smart infrastructure in the transition to climate neutrality, and identifies the need to review the regulatory framework for EU energy infrastructure, including the TEN-E Regulation, to ensure consistency with the 2050 climate neutrality objective. The revised framework should also address the policy ambition under the Green Deal of supplying clean, affordable and secure energy by integrating a significant increase in renewable energy in the European energy system, and prioritising energy efficiency.

Consultations on the TEN-E Regulation

The TEN-E Regulation forms part of the Connecting Europe Facility package of proposals, and sets out the conditions for identifying projects of common interest (PCIs) that will be eligible for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility, as well as measures to facilitate the timely development and interoperability of trans-European energy infrastructure networks. It also sets out the criteria for establishing PCIs necessary to implement priority corridors and areas in the categories of electricity, gas, oil, smart grids and carbon dioxide networks.

The public consultation aims to gather views on the TEN-E Regulation and the extent to which it has achieved its objectives, and to collect input on what should be viewed as priority corridors and priority thematic areas.

The targeted, more technical consultation aims to gather evidence to assess how the current TEN-E Regulation has worked in practice, and contains five sections that consider the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and value added by the TEN-E Regulation. This consultation is aimed at professionals involved in the design, implementation or permitting processes of energy infrastructure projects (in particular Project Promoters of PCIs, National Regulatory Authorities and National Competent Authorities), and organisations with a strong interest in energy infrastructure.

The Commission is also organising four stakeholder webinars in June 2020 to discuss the ongoing review process of the TEN-E Regulation, and to allow contributions from interested parties.

The Commission intends to publish a legislative proposal with amendments to the TEN-E Regulation before the end of 2020.