What is it about?
Cross-border energy infrastructure is the backbone connecting the European markets and allowing their integration. Gas pipelines, together with liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and underground gas storage (UGS) facilities, are the hardware supporting market integration, competition, and enhancing the security of supply in an efficient and sustainable way. If coupled with electricity, gas infrastructure can also support the energy transition towards a less carbon-intensive, and eventually carbon-neutral future.
Gas infrastructure offers flexibility, energy storage and back-up services which are already in place and of significant scale. Gas infrastructure is thus not just an object, but a tool that could contribute positively to the most profound decade of change in the European energy system.
What's the role of ACER?
ACER's main tasks regarding trans-European gas infrastructure are performed in close cooperation with the national regulatory authorities and the ENTSOs for Electricity and Gas. ACER monitors the implementation of projects creating new interconnector capacity and the Union-wide network-development plans. If ACER identifies inconsistencies between those plans and their implementation, the Agency investigates and makes recommendations to the transmission system operators, regulatory authorities or other competent bodies concerned.
Each year, promoters of projects of common interest report to ACER their progress. Based on these inputs, ACER produces a consolidated annual report which highlights the development, construction and commissioning of the projects, as well as possible delays and difficulties in their implementation across Europe.
ACER fosters a proper assessment of the projects of common interest in terms of contribution to market integration, competition, security of supply and sustainability.