EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE GENERAL ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
DIRECTORATE GENERAL ENERGY
Director-General for Economic and Financial Affairs
Deputy Director-General for Energy, Coordination of Directorates D and E
Dear Mr
,
We would like to thank you for your letter of 30 September 2020 addressed to Commissioner
for Energy Kadri Simson, as well as to the Directorates General for Energy and for Economic
and Financial affairs, on the development and expansion of pumped storage capacities in the
EU.
In your letter, you call for making pumped storage capacity an integral part of the
development programmes, and you point in particular to the financing and funding
possibilities from the Recovery and Resilience Facility and the InvestEU programme.
The Commission is fully aware of the importance and the benefits of pumped hydro storage
that you describe in your letter. With the increased production of electricity from variable
renewable sources, the need for storage and other system services that the technology can
provide will continue to grow. This is also reflected in the impact assessment for the climate
target plan 2030 communication where it is stated that the “
increasingly volatile nature of the
electricity generation sources will require deployment of storage solutions” and that,
depending on the scenario analysed, by “
2030, the PHS capacity will grow from currently 45
GW to 64 GW.”1 Through Clean Energy Package, the European co-legislators aim to create a
market that remunerates the system services that pumped hydro storage can bring.
Additionally, sustained level of investments in the modernisation or deployment of pumped
hydro storage capacities may be needed. Energy storage has been identified in the individual
assessment of the National Energy and Climate Plans published on 14 October among the
reform and investment priorities that could be considered by Member States when drafting
their recovery and resilience plans and, therefore, eligible to receive recovery funds, for its
contribution to the green transition.
The reinforced EU budget and the new recovery instrument NextGenerationEU proposed by
the Commission on 27 May 2020 will support the recovery of the European economy and
contribute to the European Green Deal objectives. The largest part of the money raised for the
Next Generation EU recovery instrument will be invested under the Recovery and Resilience
Facility (RRF), which is expected to disburse up to EUR 672.5 billion in loans and grants.
Within this framework, Member States are invited to prepare Recovery and Resilience Plans
that set out their reform and investment agendas to improve the resilience, growth potential
and their adjustment capacity, mitigating the social and economic impact of the crisis, and
supporting the green and the digital transitions.
1 Impact Assessment to Communication “Stepping up Europe’s 2030 climate ambition”, SWD(2020) 176 final
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Member States should ensure close alignment of future investment projects and reforms with
the European Semester and the country specific recommendations, the National Energy and
Climate Plans and the Territorial Just Transition Plans. The investments and reforms should
respect “do no harm” principle and contribute to energy system integration. In this context,
the Commission encouraged Member States in the 2021 Annual Sustainable Growth
Strategy2 to include in their plans investment and reforms to frontload future-proof clean
technologies and accelerate the development and use of renewables. All projects submitted in
Recovery and Resilience Plans will be carefully assessed in line with the criteria and
guidance.
In addition, targeted support to investments in renewable energy, sustainable energy
infrastructure, including demand-side flexibility and the storage of electricity, and key
enabling, transformative renewable energy technologies will be available through the
investment support programme InvestEU. With the support of an EU budget guarantee, the
InvestEU implementing partners may decide to invest in projects and technologies with
higher risk profile.
This way we are enabling the EU budget and the recovery package to truly support the green
and digital transitions in the Member States. Furthermore, a large part of the new Multiannual
Financial Framework programmes supporting these investments will be front-loaded in order
to help the European economy, including the clean energy sector, to rebound and emerge
rapidly from the crisis.
I hope you will find these explanations reassuring. I invite you to consult the dedicated
Commission websites for the latest developments on these initiatives3.
Yours sincerely,
(e-signed)
(e-signed)
Maarten Verwey
Massimo Garribba
Directorate General for Economic and
Directorate General for Energy
Financial Affairs
Deputy Director-General
Director-General
Coordination of Directorates D
and E
2 European Commission: Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2021 - COM/2020/575 final
3 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_1658 and
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_20_947
2
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