EU Updates List of Priority Energy Projects
The European Commission (EC) has updated its list of energy projects of common interest (PCIs) – infrastructure developments eligible for EU funding and fast-tracked planning permission.
The list, published by the EC on October 31, includes a total of 151 projects and will be reviewed for approval within two months by the European Parliament and the European Council. It covers 32 gas projects, down from 53 two years ago, and of these only one has been included for the first time: a plan to develop an LNG import terminal in Gdansk, Poland.
The drop in the number of gas projects the EC has pledged to support is reflective of the bloc’s shifting position on the fossil fuel. The European Investment Bank (EIB), which typically helps fund PCIs, is set to decide this month whether to stop lending to all fossil fuel based projects by the end of 2020. Under outgoing president Jean-Claude Juncker, the EC has viewed gas as a transition fuel that can be used as the bloc prepares to become fossil fuel free by 2050. But president-elect Ursula von der Leyen is expected to take a harder line on its use.
Many of the projects on the list are aimed at strengthening internal EU gas infrastructure. But it also includes several import projects, such as Southern Gas Corridor – a network of pipeline due to start pumping Azeri gas to southern Europe in 2020 but substantially complete – and LNG terminals in Croatia, Ireland and Poland.
The only new addition to the list is Gdansk LNG, an early-stage plan to install a floating storage and regasification unit allowing Poland to import an extra 4bn m3 of gas in the form of LNG.
Poland currently covers the bulk of its 15bn m3 of annual gas needs with Russian imports. But it has said it will not renew its long-term gas supply agreement with Russia after it expires in 2022, relying on spot Russian volumes and LNG after that point. Poland already has one import terminal in operation in Swinoujscie, capable of receiving 5bn m3/yr. A plan to expand the Swinoujscie plant’s capacity to 7.5bn m3 was notably not included in the PCI list.