The EU’s Modernisation Fund has disbursed 2.4 billion euros to 31 projects in seven beneficiary countries to help modernise their energy systems, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in energy, industry and transport and improve energy efficiency, the European Commission announced on Thursday (8 June).
The seven beneficiaries of the Modernisation Fund, funded by revenues from the European Emissions Trading System, include Romania (1.1 billion euros), Czechia (1 billion euros), Bulgaria (197 million euros), Poland (47 million euros), Croatia (88 million euros), Latvia (5 million euros) and Lithuania (1 million euros).
The amounts disbursed yesterday, the largest joint disbursement to date, bring total disbursements from the Modernisation Fund since January 2021 to around 7.5 billion euros, benefitting 10 eligible Member States.
Projects supported in this latest funding round focus on renewable electricity generation, modernisation of energy networks and energy efficiency, European Commission said.
“The European Emissions Trading System enables all EU Member States to reduce emissions and use the revenues to invest in their energy transition. The Modernisation Fund is an important instrument to ensure solidarity among Member States, by enabling additional investments in modernised energy systems for those countries who need it the most. Putting a price on carbon and redistributing the revenues is a great way to ensure a fair transition for citizens in these countries,” said Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal.
The project proposals approved in the latest round of EU funding include:
- modernisation of the electricity distribution grid in Bulgaria to accelerate the electrification of transport, storage deployment, and the decarbonisation and decentralisation of energy consumption and production;
- deploying photovoltaic and energy storage capacity for public water service providers in Croatia;
- improving energy efficiency and energy savings in new buildings for the public sector through the ENERGov Programme in Czechia;
- introduction of electric vehicles and corresponding charging infrastructure in Latvia;
- renovation of multi-apartment buildings in Lithuania;
- supporting cogeneration for district heating in Poland;
- new renewable electricity production capacities, district heating and gas infrastructure to replace coal-powered energy in Romania.
