Lower-income EU countries get EUR 2.4bn to pursue green transition

June 8 (Renewables Now) - The European Commission (EC) announced on Thursday that the Modernisation Fund has disbursed EUR 2.4 billion (USD 2.56bn) to 31 projects in seven EU countries, including for renewable electricity generation and grid modernisation.

The fund, which supports EU member states with lower incomes in their transition to climate neutrality, has now invested a total of EUR 7.5 billion in 10 eligible countries. The latest disbursements are as follows: EUR 1.1 billion to Romania, EUR 1 billion to Czechia, EUR 197 million to Bulgaria, EUR 47 million to Poland, EUR 88 million to Croatia, EUR 5 million to Latvia and EUR 1 million to Lithuania.

Bulgaria, in particular, has received funds to modernise its electricity distribution grid in order to speed up the electrification of transport, storage deployment, and the decarbonisation and decentralisation of energy consumption and production.

At the same time, Croatia got an investment for the installation of photovoltaic and energy storage capacity for public water service providers, while Romania saw financial support for new renewables, district heating, and gas infrastructure to replace coal-fired power plants.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.068)