The Official Journal of the EU on July 31, 2009 includes the publication of Regulation (EC) No 663/2009 of the European Parliament and Council on establishing a programme to support economic recovery through the granting of Community financial assistance projects in the field of energy.

Following a call for proposals based on the Commission proposal on the establishment of a regulation establishing the funding to bring forward energy projects to economic recovery, the July 31st DOUE publishes the European Parliament and Council Regulation on the Programme for the European Energy Recovery (PEER), which identifies as eligible actions that run the projects after this call (Annex of Regulation (EC) Nº 663/2009).

This regulation establishes a programme to assist economic recovery by granting financial assistance to energy projects in three sectors that meet the following criteria:

• That the projects would make a clear contribution to the objectives of the security of energy supply and the reduction of greenhouse gas emission.
• That the projects would be large, mature and capable of making efficient and effective use of significant amounts of financial assistance
• That the action at European level would add value to them.

The three sectors that meet these requirements, and for those stand-alone subprogrammes have been developed, are:

1. Gas and electricity infrastructure
2. Offshore wind energy projects
3. Carbon capture and storage

The overall program budget is 3,950 million euros, which are divided into:

• Gas and electricity: € 2,365M
• Offshore wind: € 565M
• Storage of carbon 1,050M €

The European Energy Programme for Recovery is a unique opportunity to respond to the key energy challenges facing Europe today. It will help the EU to strengthen its energy market in terms of security of supply, competitiveness, innovation and the development of renewable energy. At the same time, it is an important stimulus for the European economy in this very difficult period.