State Aid

France introduced a regulatory mechanism for natural gas storage in December 2017, with the aim of keeping existing storage capacities deemed necessary in operation to ensure the security of gas supply

The Commission said the scheme, approved until 2026, will further promote energy efficiency, lead to a better integration of co-generated power into the German electricity market and lower CO2 emissions, without distorting competition

The aid will be granted in the form of a two-way Contract for Difference premium

The district heating system in Bucharest is the largest of its kind in the EU and the second largest in the world, serving 1.2m people

The budget covers the period from 2020 to 2023 and will support projects aimed at favouring local public transport over more polluting means of transport

In 2017, the company decided to invest more than €1bn in the production capacity of EV batteries at its existing plant in the Dolnoślaskie region of Poland

The Commission considers the project will encourage a significant uptake of low emission vehicles

The Commission has concerns the planned support may not be in line with EU state aid rules as it does not meet the ‘efficient district heating’ criteria set out in the Energy Efficiency Directive

The facility is expected to help divert around 160,000 tons of waste from landfill

It has been designed to transport up to 2.6bn cubic meters of natural gas a year to the national transmission network from 2021