Cross-border renewable energy studies projects

Yes, the necessary preparatory work is in principle eligible for funding. In order to be eligible, the costs should be incurred after the project/action starts. The project starting date is defined at the grant agreement preparation and cannot be earlier than the day of the submission of the application.

Yes, a project application can include several beneficiaries involved in the project. In such case, a project coordinator must be appointed. The project coordinator is the intermediary for all communications with CINEA. The obligations of the coordinator and beneficiaries are laid out in the grant agreement.

Yes, project developers need to demonstrate a high level of maturity of the project by the time they apply for works.

Legal entities, as specified in article 11 of the CEF Regulation, are eligible to apply for CEF grants. While a CB RES project promoter is a legal entity that develops the CB RES project (Art. 2 of the Delegated Regulation), it is not necessary that the promoter(s) of the CB RES project, as communicated at the CB RES Status application stage, apply for the CEF grant. In any case, the involvement and agreement of the CB RES promoter in the proposed action and the capacity of the applicant to implement the action should be fully demonstrated in both cases. The choice of the consortium set-up is ultimately up to the applicants, but should be duly justified in the grant proposal.

Applicants should provide the wider picture of the global CB-RES project, but then focus the application on the action that is submitted for funding. Applicants should always make it very clear what the perimeter of the action submitted in the framework of a given call for proposal is and explain how the action contributes to the implementation of the global CB-RES project.

There is no minimum or maximum number of applicants required.

Yes. The applicants as defined in the application for the CB RES status do not need to be the same as the applicants in the future CEF calls for studies/works. In any case, the involvement and agreement of the CB RES promoter in the proposed action and the capacity of the applicant to implement the project should be fully demonstrated in both cases.

The agreement of an EU Member needs to be provided by completing the relevant annex and having it signed by a competent Member State Ministry concerned by the proposal.

Yes, as mentioned in point 6 of Article 11 of the CEF Regulation, the agreement of the EU Member State(s) concerned by the cross-border projects in the field of renewable energy is necessary for applications filed by third countries or entities from third countries.

If possible, it is recommended that third country applicants submit proposals jointly with applicants established in the EU.

To be considered eligible costs, grid connection fees must be strictly connected to the renewable installations included the in the CB RES project and they must meet the general eligibility conditions set out in Article 6.1 of the MGA (Model Grant Agreement) and the specific eligibility conditions set out in Article 6.2 of the MGA.

These costs could be claimed under one of the two different budget categories:

• Budget line B – Subcontracting costs if they comply with the conditions set out in Article 6.2.B of the MGA;
• Budget line C – Purchase costs if they comply with the conditions set out in Article 6.2.C.3 of the MGA (other goods, works and service).

Yes, in these cases, actions submitted under works can decide to include the detailed engineering design part of a ‘turnkey’ contract.

No, the value added tax (VAT) is not an eligible cost.

Actions of any budget are admitted. Grant applications must ensure a balanced action budget and sufficient other resources to implement the project successfully (e.g. own contributions, income generated by the action, financial contributions from third parties). The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested; applicants may be requested to lower the estimated costs, if they are ineligible (including excessive). The list of already approved projects can be found in the public dashboard.

The eligible action costs depend on the type of grant: works or studies. As defined in the CEF regulation studies and works consist of the following activities:

1) “studies” mean activities needed to prepare project implementation, such as preparatory, mapping, feasibility, evaluation, testing and validation studies, including in the form of software, and any other technical support measure, including prior action to define and develop a project and decide on its financing, such as reconnaissance of the sites concerned and preparation of the financial package;

2) “works” means purchase, supply and deployment of components, systems and services including software, the carrying-out of development and construction and installation activities relating to a project, the acceptance of installations and the launching of a project.

Costs of such activities incurred as part of a CB RES project are therefore in principle eligible under the CEF CB RES grant, depending on the topic to which the grant proposal applied to (works or studies).

Additional rules regarding the cost eligibility are provided in article 16 of the CEF regulation and the call text (notably under section 10 of the call text). A proper application of sound financial management principles (efficiency, effectiveness and economy) is a precondition for action costs reimbursement by CINEA.

For more information on the sound financial management principle, please review the info day slides. More on that can be found in the Financial Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 article 33.

According to Article 15 of the CEF Regulation for both works and studies, the amount of CEF financial support shall not exceed 50 % of the total eligible cost of the action.

A higher than 50 % funding rate is possible in case of works undertaken in the EU outermost regions - which can benefit from a specific maximum co-funding rate of 70 %.

A cost-benefit analysis is required when applying for CEF grant for works. Small updates or more details are possible as part of the proposal, but any significant differences in results compared to the CBA included in the CB RES Status application should be duly justified as they may be a sign of a significant change to the project fundamentals.

Studies are defined as activities needed to prepare project implementation, such as preparatory, mapping, feasibility, evaluation, testing and validation studies, including in the form of software, and any other technical support measure, including prior action to define and develop a project and decide on its financing, such as reconnaissance of the sites concerned and preparation of the financial package.

Any action which prepares the ground for building RES generation facility (e.g. a study on the technical or economic viability of the overall project, including its RES component and non-RES component) is eligible.

CB RES projects can benefit from more than one CEF grant. However, the applicants must choose which type of action (studies/works) they apply for in a given proposal. In other words the same proposal cannot combine both studies and works elements.

There is no limit. However, for what concerns works proposals, ceteris paribus, additional points may be given in the evaluation to the proposals with proportionally high RES generation component.

The maximum time between the call closure and the grant agreement signature is 9 months. As a rule of thumb, it is expected that grant agreements are signed well before the 9-month deadline.

All required information and documents are specified in the call text under section 5 – Admissibility and documents.

All data provided in the application will be processed in accordance with the relevant legal framework. It will be processed solely for the purpose of proposal evaluation, subsequent management of the grant and, if needed, programme monitoring, evaluation and communication. Details are explained in the Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy StatementPDF.

No. All supporting documents have to be attached to the application. No documents should be sent to CINEA on the initiative of the applicant after the call submission deadline. Should CINEA receive such documentation, it will not take it into consideration. In order to ensure transparency and fair treatment of all applicants, each proposal will be assessed and evaluated on its own merits, based on the information that it contains.

If an incomplete application is submitted by the call deadline, it will be declared non-admissible and hence not evaluated. CINEA does not accept any applications submitted after the call deadline.

The European Commission and CINEA follow a strict policy of equal treatment of all applicants. Therefore, individual advice to the potential applicants on the preparation of their proposal is not available. Detailed instructions on how to prepare an application are available on the CINEA CB RES webpage. General questions about the call and submission process can be sent to the call helpdesk: CINEA-CEF-ENERGY-CALLS@ec.europa.eu. Please note, however, that questions which are specific to a particular proposal and where the answer would provide a comparative advantage to the applicant will not be answered.

For any general information on the CB RES programme, please get in touch with CINEA-CEF-RENEWABLES@ec.europa.eu

The applications should be submitted directly online via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. The call text includes a helpful guidance on this process.

A business plan is required only from applications for works actions.

The requirement regarding the cooperation agreement depends on the call topic: works or studies.

For works actions, a fully-fledged signed cooperation agreement is mandatory and must be submitted together with the proposal.

For studies projects, any step forward as compared to the CB RES Status application is encouraged and welcome.

The action starting date is fixed in the Grant Agreement. Normally the starting date is after grant signature. Exceptionally and for duly justified reasons, an action selected for funding can start before the grant signature but never earlier than the grant application submission date. Preparatory activities for the funded actions are recommended and can start as early as needed. However their costs are not eligible as part of the funded action.

As laid down in Article 19 of the CEF Regulation, an action that has received a contribution under the CEF2 Programme may also receive a contribution from any other Union programme, provided that the contributions do not cover the same costs. The rules of each contributing Union programme must apply to its respective contribution to the action. The cumulative funding must not exceed the total eligible costs of the action and the support from the different Union programmes may be calculated on a pro-rata basis in accordance with the documents setting out the conditions for support.

To this end, the application form (part B) requires the applicant to provide information concerning other EU grants for the same proposed project under the section 8 Declarations/Double funding.

CEF grants are not considered State aid. However, Union funds channelled through the authorities of Member States become State resources and can constitute State aid if all the other criteria of Article 107 TFEU are met. State aid rules fully apply to the measures funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility. As a rule, State aid measures must be notified to and cleared by the Commission before funds are granted, unless they comply with the conditions of the applicable General Block Exemption Regulation declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 TFEU.

If a project is applying to national funding in addition to CEF funding, applicants should indicate the details of the foreseen national funding scheme in part B of the application form. It is important that the applicants explain the financial viability and risk management of the project in the case that the national scheme does not materialise (e.g. in the risk management section).

No, there is no legal requirement regarding the expected commissioning timeline. However, the action implementation should be realistic and foreseeable. Please note that action duration can go up to 31.12.2031 (extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment request).

There is no recommended duration of the action. The duration should be defined based on the action needs and realistic assumptions. Action duration can go up to 31.12.2031 (extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment).

No, CEF funding is not considered state aid.

Based on the CEF Regulation, every year promoters of a project, including Member States, can apply for their project to have the status of cross-border projects in the field of renewable energy (‘CB RES status’) and therefore be included in the list of projects (‘the CB RES list’). The CB RES list includes all projects having received a CB RES status by Commission decision.

Obtaining the CB RES status is a precondition to apply for CEF funding for studies and works in support of CB RES projects. A promoter may decide to apply for the CB RES status for their project, but not apply for CEF financial support at a later stage.

Cross-border projects in the field of the renewable energy are those listed in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2613.

According to Article 2 (k) of CEF Regulation, a cross-border project in the field of renewable energy (CB RES project) means a project selected or eligible to be selected under a cooperation agreement or any other kind of arrangement between two or more EU Member States or arrangements between one or more Member States and one or more third countries as set out in Articles 8, 9, 11 and 13 of RED II in the planning or deployment of renewable energy, in accordance with the criteria set out in Part IV of the Annex to the CEF Regulation.

Grants may not produce a profit (i.e. surplus of revenues + EU grant over costs). If there is a profit, the amount of the profit will be deducted from the final grant amount.

All applicants are advised to get information about the national rules that apply to their projects and follow them. In principle, combination with national support scheme is possible, provided that it complies with state aid rule.

The applicants should explain all major factors affecting the economic situation of the project, including their implications on the proposed action budget. Such a transparent justification of the reasoning behind the budget calculation should be included in the application. The awarded maximum EU contribution cannot be increased during the action implementation, even if exceptional economic circumstances are demonstrated by the beneficiaries.

No, activities (work packages and tasks) may also be sequential. Moreover, a grant proposal does not need to cover the whole CB RES project, but may also address only some (more advanced) components.

The list of the central government officials that act as the CB RES contact points is available in the programme webpage. They may be contacted in relation to e.g. a fully fledged cooperation agreement to be signed for the works action grant application.

Yes, to apply for CBRENEW studies and works grants, the precondition is to be included in the list of CB RES projects (the CB RES list).

According to the article 2 of the Delegated Regulation a ‘host Member State’ means a Member State where the renewables generation facility is physically located. An ‘off-taking Member State’ (often referred to as a “contributing Member State”) means a Member State that makes a financial contribution to the renewable energy generation investment located in another Member State.

Yes, there is no restriction regarding the studies and works actions’ running in parallel, if the overlap is coherent with the set-up of the respective actions. Please note that important overlap may increase the risks associated to the actions (e.g. delay on one action may generate bottlenecks on the other one) therefore you may need a sophisticated planning and risk management strategy.

Payments are made to the designated project coordinator, who must then distribute the payments received to the other beneficiaries without unjustified delay.

Yes, applicants can sign contracts with subcontractors before the signature of their grant agreement. To be eligible, costs must respect all eligibility conditions and must not have been incurred before the submission of the application.

It varies on a case by case. It may take a few weeks to some months, depending on the applicants’ readiness in terms of administrative steps and any eventual follow up/ recommendations to be implemented following the evaluation.