The European Commission (EC) has produced new guidance on collaborative investment frameworks for offshore energy projects.
Published at the Energy Infrastructure Forum in Copenhagen earlier this week, the guidance outlines how investment frameworks for cross-border offshore grid and renewable projects can be organised most efficiently.
“Collaborative investment frameworks for offshore projects of cross-border relevance are needed to ensure that regional ambitions are not compromised,” it said. “The present guidance seeks to assist member states and regulatory authorities in engaging in dialogues on collaboration principles from the outset of identifying network needs, accelerating the emergence of new cross-border projects, and fostering the implementation of political agreements.”
The EC noted the guidance also looked at “the particularities of project-specific cost-benefit analyses and cost-sharing approaches”. It provides recommendations, supplementing the Commission Guidance on cost-benefit sharing in cross-border renewable projects. The guidance also explores potential new collaborative investment tools for offshore energy projects of cross-border relevance, both for transmission and generation assets.
Principles for collaboration
The EC also said the document recommends that EU countries and regulatory authorities discuss principles for collaboration – including on costs – at the stage of identifying the network needs to accelerate the emergence of new cross-border projects. They also call on European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity to further develop effective modelling tools to better account for EU countries’ needs for information relevant to kickstart such exchanges.
“Europe needs offshore renewables and grids,” said EC commissioner Kadri Simson. “They will lower our dependence on foreign gas, increase our security of supply thanks to hybrid interconnectors, support our economic competitiveness and be a pillar of the energy transition. Making this happen requires developing collaborative investment frameworks between member states, ensuring an equitable distribution of costs.”
