IN Brief:
- CINEA has opened the sixth call for projects seeking Cross-Border Renewable Energy status.
- Applications are open until 6 October 2026, with awarded projects potentially eligible for the final CEF Energy CB RES funding call in 2027.
- The status supports cross-border renewable schemes, including onshore and offshore wind, solar, biomass, ocean, geothermal, and hybrid solutions.
CINEA has launched the sixth call for renewable energy projects seeking Cross-Border Renewable Energy status, opening a route for eligible schemes to gain visibility, member-state support, and future access to Connecting Europe Facility funding for studies and works.
The call opened on 29 June and will accept applications through the dedicated CB RES submission platform until 6 October 2026. It is the final status call under the current 2021–2027 Multiannual Financial Framework. Projects awarded the status may be able to apply for the final CEF Energy CB RES funding call for studies and works, expected in 2027.
CB RES status is mandatory for projects that wish to access EU funding under the CB RES window of the CEF Energy Programme. The mechanism supports renewable energy projects involving cross-border cooperation between EU member states or between member states and non-EU countries. Eligible technologies include onshore wind, offshore wind, solar, sustainable biomass, ocean energy, geothermal energy, and hybrid solutions.
More than €165m has been awarded to 17 projects since the programme was created in 2021. The funding route forms part of a wider European effort to make renewable generation deployment less dependent on purely national project pipelines, particularly where cross-border cooperation can improve system value or security of supply.
Cross-border renewable development is increasingly tied to grid planning, permitting, interconnection, storage, and shared infrastructure. The EU’s work on faster grid development and permitting, including the European grids package, places renewable generation within a broader infrastructure programme rather than treating projects as isolated assets.
CB RES status can support projects where renewable resources, demand centres, grid assets, and investment structures do not sit neatly within one national boundary. Offshore wind, hybrid interconnectors, shared solar and storage schemes, and regional renewable hubs can create benefits across multiple countries. Without a common route to recognition and funding, those benefits can be difficult to reflect in national procurement systems.
The application process gives developers a defined framework for presenting cross-border value. Technical merit alone is insufficient; projects need to show cooperation, system benefits, delivery credibility, and relevance to EU decarbonisation and energy-security goals. Renewable schemes with grid or storage components must demonstrate how they will operate in the wider power system, rather than simply adding generation capacity.
Hybrid solutions are likely to become more prominent in this context. A project that combines renewable generation with storage, interconnection, or shared grid infrastructure may have a stronger system case than a generation-only scheme. The hybrid offshore interconnector model already shows how generation and transmission planning are starting to merge around shared assets.
The 2027 funding call will be important because status alone does not build infrastructure. Studies, environmental work, engineering design, permitting support, grid assessments, procurement, and construction all need capital. CEF Energy support can reduce early-stage development risk and help projects move through the most difficult parts of cross-border planning.
The sixth call arrives at a point when renewable deployment is constrained less by technology availability than by grids, permits, supply chains, and route-to-market design. Cross-border projects can relieve some constraints, but they also add complexity around regulation, cost allocation, market participation, and operational responsibility.
CINEA’s latest call gives project promoters a defined window to bring forward schemes that can deliver renewable capacity with wider European value. The strongest applications will connect generation, grid infrastructure, storage, and cooperation into credible delivery plans rather than treating cross-border status as a label attached to conventional project development.
