BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 17.
The European Commission has approved grants totaling €125.81 million to finance works on three cross-border renewable energy projects, according to a statement from the European Commission.
Two of the projects involve cross-border district heating systems between Germany and Poland, while the third supports the development of a cross-border onshore wind farm near the Latvia-Lithuania border.
The projects are being funded through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Energy under the EU budget. They are expected to support investment in energy infrastructure, advance the EU’s decarbonization goals and strengthen energy integration among member states.
The largest grant, €70 million, was awarded to the UNITED HEAT project, which aims to develop climate-neutral district heating systems in the twin cities of Görlitz, Germany, and Zgorzelec, Poland.
The funding will cover the final works phase, including construction of a cross-border pipeline to enable physical heat exchange and system balancing between the two district heating networks. The pipeline will also integrate heat sources developed under earlier phases of the project.
A further €11.41 million will go to the TWIN HEAT project, which seeks to decarbonize district heating in Słubice, Poland, while supporting the transition toward lower-carbon heating in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.
The project will replace existing coal-fired heating units in Słubice with two biomass boilers, each with a thermal capacity of 6 MW, using sustainably sourced wood chips.
The third project, UELJO, will receive €44.40 million for its first development phase. The project envisages a cross-border onshore wind farm near the Latvia-Lithuania border comprising around 30 wind turbines and generating up to 680 GWh of renewable electricity annually.
The grant will support works in Latvia, including construction of balance-of-plant infrastructure, grid connection works and installation of wind turbines.
The European Commission granted the UELJO project Cross-Border Renewable Energy (CB RES) status in 2025, while UNITED HEAT received the status in 2022. The TWIN HEAT project is part of the EU’s efforts to promote coordinated renewable energy development across member states.
The EU has progressively strengthened its renewable energy targets as part of its broader climate and energy policy. Building on the 20% renewable energy target set for 2020, the revised Renewable Energy Directive adopted in 2018 established a binding EU-wide target of at least 32% by 2030, with the possibility of a subsequent upward revision.
Following the launch of the European Green Deal in 2019, the European Commission proposed in July 2021 to raise the 2030 target to at least 40% of the EU’s overall energy mix.
The target was subsequently increased further under the REPowerEU plan, presented by the European Commission in May 2022 in response to the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The plan aimed to accelerate the clean energy transition, reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels and diversify energy supplies. As part of the initiative, the Commission proposed raising the renewable energy target to 45% by 2030.
The revised Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2023/2413, which entered into force in November 2023, ultimately set a binding minimum target of 42.5% for renewables in the EU’s energy mix by 2030, while aiming for a 45% share.
The EU has also introduced measures to accelerate renewable energy deployment, including faster permitting procedures for renewable projects and measures to facilitate power purchase agreements.
