EU funding of EUR 424m for zero-emission projects
Electric charging point - Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay
(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission announced Wednesday the selection of 42 new projects deploying alternative fuels infrastructure that will receive over EUR 424 million in EU support.
Financing will come from the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF) of the EU's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
Under the fifth and last selection round of the first AFIF call for proposals for which the submission deadline was 7 November 2023, 42 projects have been selected to receive in total EUR 424 million of EU grant support.
With this selection, AFIF will support approximately 4,200 electric recharging points along the European TEN-T road network, 48 hydrogen refuelling stations for cars, trucks and buses and the electrification of ground handling services in 21 airports.
The funding is coupled with financing from major financial institutions to achieve a higher impact of the EU grants.
"Since 2021, the EU has granted over €1.3 billion through AFIF to several projects, deploying 26,396 electric recharging points, 202 hydrogen refuelling stations, and electrifying ground operations in 63 airports," said Transport Commissioner Adina Valean: "This last call was the most successful regarding the projects' number and quality so far, showing the growing interest in hydrogen and electric charging infrastructure."
AFIF is funding the deployment of alternative fuel supply infrastructure along the EU's trans-European network for transport (TEN-T). The facility operates through a rolling call for proposals. This funding is part of the second phase of AFIF (2024-2025), which notably supports the objectives set in the new Regulation for the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure (AFIR), as well as the objectives set in the ReFuelEU aviation and the FuelEU maritime Regulations.
An ongoing AFIF call is now open for applications, with a budget of €1 billion for 2024-2025. The first deadline to apply is 24 September 2024.
Background document on the call
New Regulation for the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure (AFIR)