The European Commission has approved state aid worth €750 million (£517.5m) to build nine gas projects in Poland.

It said the projects will help towards building an Energy Union, a single energy market to help the EU lower prices, improve interconnectivity, move towards a lower carbon future and increase energy efficiency.

The polish projects aim to increase the gas interconnection capacity between Poland and the countries around it by eliminating bottlenecks and reinforcing its gas transmission network.

Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner in charge of competition policy said: “Today’s approval of this significant public investment in Poland’s gas pipelines is an example of how state aid rules can encourage sensible public spending. And contribute to building a real Energy Union.

“Interconnections enable energy flows between countries, improve cross-border connections and allow diversification of gas supply sources.”

The total cost of the nine projects are estimated at €1,191 million (£821m).