EU Grants 55 mln Euro to Bulgaria For Two Energy Projects
The European Commission's Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) said that it has signed two grant agreements with Bulgaria, worth a total of 55 million euro ($62 milllion), aimed at funding two energy projects.The project for construction of a 400 kV interconnection line between Bulgaria's Maritsa East substation and the Nea Santa substation in Greece will benefit from a 28 million euro grant, while a project for rehabilitation and modernisation of the internal Bulgarian gas transmission network will receive 27 million euro, INEA said in a statement last week.Both grants will come from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which is partially managed by INEA.The CEF already co-financed the studies and pre-investment works, and the cost-benefit analysis and business plan for the Maritsa East - Nea Santa power line project. The new funding will support the construction and commissioning of an approximately 123 km long overhead transmission line on the territory of Bulgaria between the substation Maritsa East and the Bulgarian-Greece border connection point, the agency said.