Structural and cohesion funds
There are four Structural Funds but investments in the energy sector can mainly be financed by the Cohesion Fund and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
Energy projects – depending on their nature – can be financed by one of the three strands of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF):
- The Convergence objective finances investments in energy and transport.
- The Regional Competitiveness and Employment objective supports energy projects as a means for reducing pollution. Therefore, it concentrates on projects linked with energy efficiency and clean transport.
- The European Territorial Cooperation.
These programmes, are based on Operational Programmes (OP), which are managed at regional level.
European Territorial Cooperation
- Cross border (INTERREG IV A)
- Transnational (INTERREG IV B)
- Inter-regional (INTERREG IV C) - cooperation also in the area of energy
- URBACT II: the ERDF also finances the URBACT II Programme, which focuses on increasing cooperation between cities in order to facilitate solutions to common problems. It can also finance projects dealing with sustainable and energy-efficient development i.e. in the building or transport sector.
Cohesion Fund
The Cohesion Fund finances investments in energy infrastructure, energy efficiency and transport networks. It also supports priority projects of European interest. These programmes, are based on Operational Programmes (OP), which are managed at regional level.
