The EU is providing €800 million (£674m) of funding for electricity, gas and smart grid infrastructure projects.

The finance will help to strengthen Europe’s internal energy market, enhance security of energy supply and provide clean, sustainable energy across the continent.

The call for proposals will be open until the 12th of October and comes as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

Proposed projects can take the form of either studies or construction works and will be evaluated on criteria including how well developed they are, the number of countries they would influence and to what extent they will remove bottlenecks to energy flow.

Projects are required to have a significant impact in at least two EU Member States and should be able to affect a reduction in energy isolation.

Submissions will be evaluated in November and December 2017 and the results will be published in early 2018.

The European Parliament and Council have reached an informal agreement on new regulations which aim to prevent gas supply crises.

The World Bank has approved $59 million (£45.8) in funding to help remove energy bottlenecks in Bangladesh’s power sector.