The European Union has paid out €2.4bn from its Modernisation Fund to seven member states, including Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania. The grants are for 31 projects for renewable electricity generation, modernisation of energy networks, and energy efficiency. Bulgaria received EUR 197 million, compared to EUR 88 million for Croatia, and Romania got a EUR 1.1 billion tranche. The remaining countries are Czechia (EUR 1 billion), Latvia (EUR 5 million), Lithuania (EUR 1 million), and Poland (EUR 47 million). Bulgaria intends to invest in the power grid while Croatia will use the funds to support renewable energy production.
All four projects in Bulgaria are intended for the modernisation and development of the electricity distribution grid to accelerate electrification of transport, storage deployment, and the decarbonisation and decentralisation of energy consumption and production. The Modernisation Fund supports ten EU countries to reduce dependency on Russian fossil fuels, meet their 2030 climate and energy targets, and contribute to the EU’s long-term commitment to reaching climate neutrality by 2050. The aim of the Fund is to help EU member countries that have lower incomes in their transition to climate neutrality. It supports investments in renewables, energy efficiency, energy storage, and the modernisation of energy networks.
