Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of guaranteeing funding for UK Projects of Common Interest established under the Connecting Europe Facility for Energy.

The Government guarantee to underwrite the payment of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) energy grant awards is intended to apply where UK project promoters have been accorded ‘Project of Common Interest’ (PCI) status for their projects under provisions in the Trans-European Networks Energy (TEN-E) regulation, have subsequently applied for and been awarded grants under the linked CEF regulation, but where no satisfactory arrangement has been made on exit as to how to manage outstanding awards. This approach mitigates the risk that these projects do not go ahead because of lack of funding. The majority of the projects in receipt of awards so far are joint electricity interconnector projects with other Member States and will contribute significantly to the UK’s future security of electricity supply.