European Cross-Border Electricity Infrastructure

Executive Brief

1. What this eBriefing covers

• The political and strategic rationale behind EU cross-border electricity infrastructure policy.
• The meaning of PCI and PMI status and the legal consequences of inclusion in the Union list.
• The first and second PCI/PMI lists under the revised TEN-E Regulation and the third-list process launched in 2026.
• CEF Energy funding rounds, with a clear separation between EU grants and the wider financing structure of a project.
• The institutions, Regional Groups, regulators, system operators and decision-making bodies involved.
• The position of unsuccessful applicants, institutional scrutiny and possible legal remedies.
• Practical implications for TSOs, DSOs, technology suppliers, investors, industrial users, public authorities and advisers.

2. The policy and strategic logic

2.1 From national networks to a European system

Electricity systems were historically planned mainly around national generation fleets and demand centres. Decarbonisation changes the geography and timing of power flows. Offshore wind, solar generation, hydro resources and storage are unevenly distributed; their value depends on the ability to transmit electricity across regions and borders. Interconnectors can reduce isolation, improve competition, provide balancing options and lower the volume of renewable generation that must be curtailed.

2.2 Security and geopolitical resilience

The synchronisation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with the Continental European Network on 9 February 2025 illustrates the geopolitical dimension. It ended the Baltic systems' reliance on the Russian- and Belarusian-controlled synchronous area. The second Union list and subsequent CEF awards also place greater emphasis on resilience and protection of critical electricity infrastructure.

2.3 Industrial and investment consequences

Grid availability increasingly affects industrial location, electrification projects, renewable deployment and data-intensive investment. Delayed interconnection can create regional price differences, connection queues and curtailment. For private operators, PCI/PMI status can improve visibility and coordination but does not remove construction, permitting, procurement, cost-recovery or demand risks.

3. What PCI and PMI status means

Only specified infrastructure categories are eligible. For PMIs, the permitted categories are narrower and include electricity transmission, offshore hybrid interconnectors, hydrogen transmission and CO2 networks, potentially linked to storage.

4. How the selection works

1. System-needs identification and TYNDP entry. Electricity transmission and storage candidates must be included in the latest available ENTSO-E Ten-Year Network Development Plan. ENTSO-E applies its cost-benefit methodology and future-system scenarios.
2. Application. Project promoters submit data through the Commission's open call, identifying the relevant corridor or thematic area and providing technical, economic, environmental and maturity evidence.
3. Eligibility screening. The Commission and technical bodies verify scope, cross-border dimension, TYNDP status where required and completeness.
4. Technical assessment. Candidate projects are assessed against Article 4 of TEN-E, including sustainability, market integration, security of supply, competition, renewable integration and cost-benefit indicators.
5. Public consultation and stakeholder scrutiny. Candidate projects are published for consultation; stakeholders can comment on need, impacts and maturity.
6. Regional Group evaluation and ranking. Regional Groups examine the evidence. Their Decision-Making Bodies — Member States and the Commission — adopt regional proposals.
7. ACER opinion and consistency review. ACER contributes regulatory assessment and opinions during the process, particularly regarding consistent application of criteria and cross-border impacts.
8. Delegated act. The Commission adopts the Union list as a delegated regulation.
9. Parliamentary and Council scrutiny. Parliament and Council may object to the list as a whole within two months, extendable by two months; they cannot amend individual projects.
10. Entry into force and implementation monitoring. Listed projects move into permitting, regulatory, financing and construction phases; unjustified delays can affect later list exercises.

5. Selection criteria for electricity projects

6. Union lists: the selection tranches

7. What has already been selected: electricity portfolio highlights

The full legal lists contain project clusters and component investments. The table below highlights commercially and strategically relevant examples; it is not a substitute for the legal annex or the PCI/PMI Transparency Platform.

8. Funding: status is not a grant

PCI/PMI designation creates eligibility to apply for CEF Energy but does not guarantee support. CEF is EU-budget co-financing. The balance of project costs may be borne by regulated network tariffs, promoter resources, commercial or public debt, national budgets, other EU instruments or the EIB. The precise mix differs by project and can change over time.

8.1 Electricity awards from the 2025 CEF call

These six electricity-related grants total approximately €469.51 million. The published amounts are EU grants, not necessarily the full investment costs of the underlying projects.

8.2 Cost allocation and national funding

For regulated electricity infrastructure, project promoters can submit an investment request to the relevant national regulatory authorities. Cross-border cost-allocation decisions determine how investment costs are distributed where costs and benefits fall in different countries. ACER monitors these decisions and may become involved where national regulators cannot agree. ACER's 2025 monitoring found that costs remained national in most cases and that access to CEF grants — not redistribution of costs — was often the principal reason for seeking a CBCA decision.

9. New deadlines and timetable

10. Who selects the projects

10.1 Expert participation and transparency

The process is not entrusted to a single independent jury. It combines technical assessment, network-planning evidence, regulatory input, stakeholder consultation and political decision-making in corridor-specific Regional Groups. The precise participants can vary by corridor and meeting. The legally decisive body is narrower than the broader group: only Member States and the Commission participate in the Regional Group Decision-Making Body.

For due diligence, operators should distinguish between: (i) experts and stakeholders contributing evidence; (ii) technical bodies producing scenarios and cost-benefit results; (iii) regulators providing opinions; and (iv) the Member State-Commission bodies making the regional selection decisions.

11. Final decision, objections and legal remedies

The Commission makes the final Union-level selection by adopting a delegated regulation containing the consolidated list. Parliament and Council may object to the act as a whole during the scrutiny period but cannot add, delete or rewrite individual projects.

Regulation (EU) 2022/869 does not establish a dedicated administrative appeal procedure through which an unsuccessful promoter can require reconsideration of its non-selection. Promoters should use consultation and procedural opportunities during the assessment to correct factual errors and document compliance.

General EU-law remedies may remain relevant. An action for annulment under Article 263 TFEU is theoretically available against reviewable EU acts, but a private applicant must satisfy strict standing requirements, including direct and individual concern where the act is not addressed to it. Judicial review of national permitting, regulatory, procurement or financing decisions follows the applicable national and EU rules. Complaints to the European Ombudsman may address maladministration but do not replace judicial proceedings.

12. What matters to public and private operators

13. Risk and opportunity dashboard

• Permitting risk -- PCI status accelerates procedures but does not waive environmental law or public participation.
• Cost inflation and supply-chain risk -- Cable, transformer, converter and specialist-vessel capacity can alter schedules and budgets.
• Cross-border governance risk -- Asymmetric national benefits can delay cost-sharing and political support.
• Demand and scenario risk -- A project justified under one electrification or renewable pathway may be less robust under another.
• Cyber and physical-security risk -- Offshore and cross-border assets are increasingly treated as critical infrastructure.
• Financing opportunity -- CEF grants can de-risk studies and works, while PCI/PMI visibility can assist EIB and private financing discussions.
• Procurement opportunity -- Moving from list status to funded works creates identifiable supplier markets.
• Data opportunity -- The Transparency Platform, TYNDP and CINEA grant data can support portfolio monitoring and early commercial intelligence.

14. EUGRID monitoring framework

15. Primary sources and operational links

• Regulation (EU) 2022/869 (TEN-E)
• European Commission — PCI/PMI selection process and third-list timetable
• Second Union list — Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/764
• First Union list — Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1041
• PCI/PMI Transparency Platform
• European Commission — Funding for PCIs and PMIs
• CINEA — 2024 call results (€1.25bn)
• CINEA — 2025 call results (€650m)
• ACER — Cross-border cost allocation
• ENTSO-E TYNDP 2024 project platform
• CINEA public project dashboard
• European Commission — BEMIP and Baltic synchronisation

Methodology and limitations

This first edition prioritises official EU legal acts, Commission and CINEA publications, ACER material, ENTSO-E sources and official project-promoter pages. Project status is time-sensitive and may differ between the legal Union list, promoter schedules and construction reality. Funding amounts reported as CEF support are EU grants unless stated otherwise; they must not be read as total project cost or as evidence that the balance is national public funding.

The legal Union list is definitive for PCI/PMI status. The Transparency Platform and TYNDP project sheets should be used for project-level monitoring, while promoter and national-authority sources should be checked before relying on commissioning dates, budgets or procurement status.