Gaz-System and Energinet have signed a tripartite agreement with the EU Executive Agency for Innovation and Networks (INEA) for co-financing project works for Baltic Pipe under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The contract signing ceremony took place on 24 May 2018 during the „Energy Infrastructure Forum” in Copenhagen.
The signing of the contract for co-financing is the fulfillment of the decision of the EU Member States, taken on 25 January 2018, to grant financial aid for the Baltic Pipe project from the EU Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). Financial support was granted on the basis of the CEF Energy grant competition held in 2017 for the task titled „Preparatory work for the Baltic Pipe project until obtaining the necessary building permits in Poland and in Denmark”, which will be implemented by the Polish and Danish transmission system operators: Gaz-System and Energinet.
According to the President of Gaz-System Tomasz Stępień, the financial support obtained from the European Union confirms the special significance of the Baltic Pipe project for increasing the security and diversification of gas supplies and building an integrated and competitive gas market in the Baltic Sea region and Central and Eastern Europe. – Baltic Pipe is a project that will allow us to diversify not only directions but also sources of blue fuel supplies – said the president of the management board of Gaz-System Tomasz Stępień.
He also pointed out that the funding received under the Connecting Europe Facility testifies to the importance of this project in the EU. – Baltic Pipe together with the expansion of the LNG Terminal in Świnoujście and in combination with other currently implemented undertakings, including in particular the construction of interconnectors inter alia with Lithuania and Slovakia, it is the key to meeting the energy challenges of Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic region. The implementation of these investments will make the European competitive gas market finally open to the countries of our region – added Stępień.
Piotr Naimski, Government Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastructure, Michał Kurtyka, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Energy, Government Plenipotentiary for the Presidency of the COP 24, Lars Christian Lilleholt, Minister of Energy, Municipal Services and Climate of Denmark, also took part in the ceremony of signing the co-financing agreement. Miguel Arias Cañete, EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Dominique Ristori, Director General of DG Energy, Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, Director of the Internal Energy Market at DG Energy, Thomas Egebo, CEO at Energinet, Dirk Beckers, Director of the Executive Agency Innovation and Networks (INEA).
Gaz-System