TEN-E

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ACER and the national regulatory authorities cooperate in the implementation of the European guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure, also known as the TEN-E Regulation. 

This regulation, adopted in 2013, enhances the physical integration of the internal energy market by identifying the missing infrastructure links and providing tools to speed-up their implementation.

​ACER participates in the identification of projects of common interest (PCIs) and monitors their implementation annually.

In addition, the Agency contributes to:

• Developing cost-benefit analysis methodologies to identify the best projects from a socio-economic perspective
  

• Providing guidelines to facilitate the allocation of projects' costs across borders (CBCA)
  

• Creating a cooperation framework for NRAs to establish and publish a set of unit investment cost indicators and corresponding reference values for gas infrastructure
  

• Sharing best practices on regulatory incentives.

ACER has also proposed legislative changes to improve the planning and implementation of electricity and gas infrastructure and their governance, based on its experience with the implementation of the TEN-E regulation.​

The ACER-CEER position paper​ (March 2021) sets out and makes recommendations on 6 main issues. It calls for neutral and independent technical assessment of infrastructure projects and improved regulatory oversight so that the projects bringing most benefits for the European Green Deal are supported and to avoid any risks of unjustified costs to European consumers.​

When the European Commission's revised TEN-E Regulation proposals were published in December 2020, ACER and CEER flagged up the need for further improvement for energy network development (see the ACER-CEER Press Release).​

Already in July 2020, ACER and CEER set out their recommendation to the European Commission (as it began developing its proposals on revising the Trans-European Energy Networks Regulation) in a​ Position Paper on the Revision of the Trans-European ​​​Energy Networks Regulation (TEN-E) and Infrastructure Governance. The proposals highlight how the legislative changes could improve the planning and implementation of electricity and gas infrastructure. The paper also advises on improving the infrastructure development governance, the principles for PCI scope, and the TEN-E processes.

Previously, ACER issued two other Position Papers (2016) and (2017) about possible improvements of the European framework for energy infrastructure development related to the TEN-E Regulation.