The European Commission and the European Investment Bank have approved €2.5 billion from the EU’s Modernisation Fund for 51 energy projects across 11 member states.
The funding is financed by revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the EU’s carbon market in which companies must hold allowances for the greenhouse gases they emit.
The latest disbursement brings total Modernisation Fund support to €23.2 billion since January 2021, according to the Commission and the EIB.
Romania is set to receive €636.9 million, Hungary €552.3 million and Czechia €516.8 million, with additional funding going to Greece (€233.9 million), Poland (€180 million), Lithuania (€169 million), Croatia (€109 million), Portugal (€81.4 million), Estonia (€44.8 million), Latvia (€40 million) and Slovenia (€20.2 million).
The projects in this round focus on renewable electricity generation, energy storage, energy networks and energy-efficiency measures.
Examples include district heating upgrades and electric public transport
Among the examples listed are decarbonising heat production in district heating systems in Czechia and supporting geothermal energy for district heating in Croatia, according to the Commission and the EIB.
Other projects include replacing diesel vehicles with electric trolleybuses for public transport in Estonia, replacing diesel buses with electric buses and installing charging infrastructure in Latvia, and developing stand-alone battery storage installations in Romania.
The Modernisation Fund is available to 13 EU countries whose gross domestic product per person was below 75% of the EU average in 2016 to 2018, and it is financed by auctioning emission allowances under the EU ETS.
“Solidarity is at the heart of the EU Emissions Trading System,” Wopke Hoekstra, the Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, said.
