Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

AddedMember States concerned: Ireland, Spain, France and Portugal.

Added3. PRIORITY CORRIDORS FOR HYDROGEN AND ELECTROLYSERS

Added(9) Hydrogen interconnections in Western Europe (HI West): hydrogen infrastructure and the repurposing of gas infrastructure enabling the emergence of an integrated hydrogen backbone, directly or indirectly (via interconnection with or import from a third country), connecting the countries of the region and addressing their specific infrastructure needs for hydrogen supporting the emergence of an Union-wide network for hydrogen transport in the Union.

AddedElectrolysers: supporting the deployment of power-to-gas applications aiming to enable greenhouse gas reductions and contributing to secure, efficient and reliable system operation and smart energy system integration in the Union.

AddedMember States concerned: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland. Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria and Portugal.

Added(10) Hydrogen interconnections in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe (HI East): hydrogen infrastructure and the repurposing of gas infrastructure, enabling the emergence of an integrated hydrogen backbone, directly or indirectly (via interconnection with a third country), connecting the countries of the region and addressing their specific infrastructure needs for hydrogen supporting the emergence of an Union-wide network for hydrogen transport in the Union.

AddedElectrolysers: supporting the deployment of power-to-gas applications aiming to enable greenhouse gas reductions and contributing to secure, efficient and reliable system operation and smart energy system integration in the Union.

AddedMember States concerned: Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.

Added(11) Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan in hydrogen (BEMIP Hydrogen): hydrogen infrastructure and the repurposing of gas infrastructure, enabling the emergence of an integrated hydrogen backbone, directly or indirectly (via interconnection with a third country), connecting the countries of the region and addressing their specific infrastructure needs for hydrogen supporting the emergence of an Union-wide network for hydrogen transport in the Union.

AddedElectrolysers: supporting the deployment of power-to-gas applications aiming to enable greenhouse gas reductions and contributing to secure, efficient and reliable system operation and smart energy system integration in the Union.

AddedMember States concerned: Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Sweden.

Added3a. PRIORITY CORRIDORS FOR PROTECTION AND RESILIENCE OF CRITICAL ENERGY SYSTEMS

Added(11a) Energy infrastructure protection in Western Europe (EIP WEST): strengthening the physical protection and operational resilience of existing energy infrastructure essential for the safe, secure and efficient operation of the energy systems of cross-border relevance, in particular preventing, detecting, mitigating or responding to acts of sabotage or other malicious physical interference. Member States concerned: Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland. Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria and Portugal.

Added(11b) Energy infrastructure protection in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe (EIP EAST): strengthening the physical protection and operational resilience of existing energy infrastructure essential for the safe, secure and efficient operation of the energy systems of cross-border relevance, in particular preventing, detecting, mitigating or responding to acts of sabotage or other malicious physical interference.

AddedMember States concerned: Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.

Added(11c) Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan in energy infrastructure protection (EIP BEMIP): strengthening the physical protection and operational resilience of existing energy infrastructure essential for the safe, secure and efficient operation of the energy systems of cross-border relevance, in particular preventing, detecting, mitigating or responding to acts of sabotage or other malicious physical interference.

AddedMember States concerned: Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Sweden.

Added4. PRIORITY THEMATIC AREAS

Added(12) Smart electricity grids deployment: adopting smart grid technologies across the Union to efficiently integrate the behaviour and actions of all users connected to the electricity network, enabling their active participation, in particular the generation of large amounts of electricity from renewable or distributed energy sources and demand response by consumers, energy storage, electric vehicles and other flexibility sources, to contribute to the climate adaptation of the electricity network, and, in addition, as regards islands and island systems, decreasing energy isolation, supporting innovative and other solutions involving at least two Member States with a significant positive impact on the Union’s targets for energy and climate and its 2050 climate neutrality objective, and contributing significantly to the sustainability of the island energy system and that of the Union.

AddedMember States concerned: all.

Added(13) Cross-border carbon dioxide network: development of infrastructure for transport and storage of carbon dioxide between Member States and with neighbouring third countries of carbon dioxide capture and storage captured from industrial installations for the purpose of permanent geological storage as well as carbon dioxide utilisation for synthetic fuel gases leading to the permanent neutralization of carbon dioxide.

AddedMember States concerned: all

AddedThe energy infrastructure categories to be developed in order to implement the energy infrastructure priorities set out in Annex I shall be the following:

Added(1) concerning electricity:

Added(a) high and extra-high voltage overhead transmission lines, crossing a border or within a Member State territory including the exclusive economic zone, if they have been designed for a voltage of 220 kV or more, and underground and submarine transmission cables, if they have been designed for a voltage of 150 kV or more. For Member States and small isolated systems with a lower voltage overall transmission system, those voltage thresholds are equal to the highest voltage level in their respective electricity systems;

Added(b) any equipment or installation falling under energy infrastructure category referred to in point (a) enabling transmission of low carbon and offshore renewable electricity from the offshore generation sites (energy infrastructure for offshore low carbon and renewable electricity);

Added(c) energy storage facilities, in individual or aggregated form, used for storing energy on a permanent or temporary basis in above-ground or underground infrastructure or geological sites, provided they are directly connected to high-voltage transmission lines and distribution lines designed for a voltage of 110 kV or more. For Member States and small isolated systems with a lower voltage overall transmission system, those voltage thresholds are equal to the highest voltage level in their respective electricity systems;

Added(d) any equipment or installation essential for the systems referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) to operate the systems safely, securely and efficiently, including protection, resilience, monitoring, control and digitalisation equipment or installation at all voltage levels and substations;

Added(e) any equipment or installation, which is specifically designed to provide protection and resilience to existing critical network elements, at all voltage levels pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/943, is physically directly connected to them, and is essential to operate the systems safely, securely and efficiently;

Added(f) any equipment or installation essential for voltage network elements to operate the systems safely and efficiently which constitutes monitoring, control and digitalisation equipment or installation;

Added(g) smart electricity grids: any equipment or installation, digital systems and components integrating both information and communication technologies (ICT) and Operational Software and Automation Technologies (OT), through digital platforms, control systems and sensor technologies, as well as digital twins or other platforms enabling or improving and coordinating planning, operations, market procurement or activation of distributed energy resources for the delivery of flexibility to system operators, both at transmission and low, medium and high voltage distribution level, aiming to ensure a more efficient, secure, and intelligent electricity transmission and distribution network, including by enhancing the cyber and operational resilience of the Union’s energy infrastructure, with the capacity to prevent, withstand and recover from cyber incidents, physical disruptions and hybrid threats, while increasing the capacity to integrate new forms of generation, energy storage and consumption and facilitating new business models and market structures, including investments in islands and island systems to decrease energy isolation, to support innovative and other solutions involving at least two Member States with a significant positive impact on the Union’s targets for energy and climate and its 2050 climate neutrality objective, and to contribute significantly to the sustainability of the island energy system and that of the Union;

Added(h) offshore grids for renewable energy: any equipment or installation falling under energy infrastructure category referred to in point (a) having dual functionality: interconnection and offshore grid connection system from the offshore renewable generation sites to two or more Member States and a third country, including the onshore prolongation of this equipment up to the first substation in the onshore transmission system, as well as any offshore adjacent equipment or installation essential to operate safely, securely and efficiently, including protection, monitoring and control systems, and necessary substations if they also ensure technology interoperability, inter alia, interface compatibility between various technologies ;

Added(2) concerning hydrogen:

Added(a) pipelines for the transport, mainly at high pressure, of hydrogen, including repurposed natural gas infrastructure, giving access to multiple network users on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis;

Added(aa) import and/or dispatch terminals for hydrogen;

Added(b) storage facilities connected to the high-pressure hydrogen pipelines referred to in point (a) and to the infrastructure referred to in point (aa);

Added(c) reception, storage and regasification or decompression facilities for liquefied hydrogen or hydrogen embedded in other chemical substances with the objective of injecting the hydrogen, where applicable, into the grid;

Added(d) any equipment or installation essential for the hydrogen system to operate safely, securely and efficiently or to enable bi-directional capacity, including compressor stations;

AddedAny of the assets listed in points (a) to (d) may be newly constructed or repurposed from natural gas to hydrogen, or a combination of the two;

Added(3) concerning electrolyser facilities:

Added(a) electrolysers that:

Added(i) have at least 500 MW capacity, provided by a single electrolyser or by a set of electrolysers that form a single, coordinated project; and

Added(ii) the production qualifies as low carbon hydrogen in line with Directive (EU) 2024/1788 in case of low-carbon hydrogen or renewable fuel of non-biological origin in line with the Directive (EU) 2018/2001; and

Added(iii) have a network-related function for both the electricity and the hydrogen networks, particularly with a view to overall system flexibility and overall system efficiency of the two networks.

Added(b) related equipment, including pipeline connection to the network.

Added(4) concerning carbon dioxide:

Added(a) dedicated pipelines, other than upstream pipeline network, used to transport carbon dioxide from more than one source, for the purpose of permanent geological storage of carbon dioxide pursuant to Directive 2009/31/EC;

Added(b) fixed facilities for liquefaction, buffer storage and converters of carbon dioxide in view of its further transportation through pipelines and in dedicated modes of transport such as ship, barge, truck, and train;

Added(c) without prejudice to any prohibition of geological storage of carbon dioxide in a Member State, surface and injection facilities associated with infrastructure within a geological formation that is used, in accordance with Directive 2009/31/EC, for the permanent geological storage of carbon dioxide, where they do not involve the use of carbon dioxide for the enhanced recovery of hydrocarbons and are necessary to allow the cross-border transport and storage of carbon dioxide;

Added(d) any equipment or installation essential for the system in question to operate properly, securely and efficiently, including protection, monitoring and control systems.

Added1. RULES FOR GROUPS

Added(1) With regard to energy infrastructure falling under the competence of national regulatory authorities, each Group shall be composed of representatives of the Member States, national regulatory authorities, TSOs as well as the Commission, the Agency, the EU DSO entity and either the ENTSO for Electricity or the ENNOH.

AddedFor the other energy infrastructure categories, each Group shall be composed of the Commission and the representatives of the Member States, project promoters concerned by each of the relevant priorities set out in Annex I.

Added(2) Depending on the number of candidate projects for the Union list, regional infrastructure gaps and market developments, the Groups and the decision-making bodies of the Groups may split, merge or meet in different configurations, as necessary, to discuss matters common to all Groups via the TEN-E Group or pertaining solely to particular regions. Such matters may include issues relevant to cross-regional consistency or the number of proposed projects included on the draft regional lists at risk of becoming unmanageable.

Added(3) Each Group shall organise its work in line with regional cooperation efforts pursuant to Articles 31 and 65 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1789, Article 80 of Directive (EU) 2024/1788, Article 34 of Regulation (EU) 2019/943, and Article 61 of Directive (EU) 2019/944, and other existing regional cooperation structures.

Added(4) Each Group shall invite, as appropriate for the purpose of implementing the relevant energy infrastructure priority corridors and areas designated in Annex I, promoters of a project potentially eligible for selection as a project of common interest or projects of mutual interest as well as representatives of national administrations, of regulatory authorities, of civil society and TSOs from third countries.

Added(5) For the energy infrastructure priority corridors set out in Section 2 of Annex I, each Group shall invite, as appropriate, representatives of the landlocked Member States, competent authorities, national regulatory authorities and TSOs.

Added(6) Each Group shall invite to the meetings, as appropriate, the organisations representing relevant stakeholders, including representatives from third countries, and, where deemed to be appropriate, directly the stakeholders, including producers, DSOs, suppliers, consumers, local populations and Union-based organisations for environmental protection, to express their specific expertise. Each Group shall organise hearings or consultations where relevant for the accomplishments of its tasks.

Added(7) As regards the meetings of the Groups, the Commission shall publish, on a platform accessible to stakeholders, the internal rules, an updated list of member organisations, regularly updated information on the progress of work, meeting agendas, as well as meeting minutes, where available. The deliberations of the decision-making bodies of the Groups and the project ranking in accordance with Article 4(5) shall be confidential. All decisions concerning to the functioning and work of the Groups shall be made by consensus between the Member States and the Commission. Any Member State participating in the Group may raise an objection on publication of any data referred to in this paragraph that is sensitive for the Member State.

Added(8) The Commission, the Agency and the Groups shall strive for consistency between the Groups. For that purpose, the Commission and the Agency shall ensure, when relevant, the exchange of information on all work representing an interregional interest between the Groups concerned.