Transmission and distribution of electricity

The activity complies with one of the following criteria:

1. The transmission and distribution infrastructure or equipment is in an electricity system that complies with at least one of the following criteria:

a. the system is the interconnected European system, i.e. the interconnected control areas of Member States, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and its subordinated systems;

b. more than 67% of newly enabled generation capacity in the system is below the generation threshold value of 100 gCO₂e/kWh measured on a life cycle basis in accordance with electricity generation criteria, over a rolling five-year period;

c. the average system grid emissions factor, calculated as the total annual emissions from power generation connected to the system, divided by the total annual net electricity production in that system, is below the threshold value of 100 gCO₂e/kWh measured on a life cycle basis in accordance with electricity generation criteria, over a rolling five-year period;

Infrastructure dedicated to creating a direct connection or expanding an existing direct connection between a substation or network and a power production plant that is more greenhouse gas intensive than 100 gCO₂e/kWh measured on a life cycle basis is not compliant.

Installation of metering infrastructure that does not meet the requirements of smart metering systems of Article 20 of Directive (EU) 2019/944 is not compliant.

2. The activity is one of the following:

a. construction and operation of direct connection, or expansion of existing direct connection, of low carbon electricity generation below the threshold of 100 gCO₂e/kWh measured on a life cycle basis to a substation or network;

b. construction and operation of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and supporting electric infrastructure for the electrification of transport, subject to compliance with the technical screening criteria under the transport Section of this Annex;

c. installation of transmission and distribution transformers that comply with the Tier 2 (1 July 2021) requirements set out in Annex I to the Commission Regulation (EU) No 548/2014⁽¹⁷⁸⁾ and, for medium power transformers with highest voltage for equipment not exceeding 36 kV, with AAA0 level requirements on no-load losses set out in standard EN 50588-1⁽¹⁷⁹⁾.

d. construction/installation and operation of equipment and infrastructure where the main objective is an increase of the generation or use of renewable electricity generation;

e. installation of equipment to increase the controllability and observability of the electricity system and to enable the development and integration of renewable energy sources, including:

f. sensors and measurement tools (including meteorological sensors for forecasting renewable production);

g. communication and control (including advanced software and control rooms, automation of substations or feeders, and voltage control capabilities to adapt to more decentralised renewable infeed).

h. installation of equipment such as, but not limited to future smart metering systems or those replacing smart metering systems in line with Article 19(6) of Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽¹⁸⁰⁾, which meet the requirements of Article 20 of Directive (EU) 2019/944, able to carry information to users for remotely acting on consumption, including customer data hubs;

i. construction/installation of equipment to allow for exchange of specifically renewable electricity between users;

j. construction and operation of interconnectors between transmission systems, provided that one of the systems is compliant.

For the purposes of this Section, the following specifications apply:

a. the rolling five-year period used in determining compliance with the thresholds is based on five consecutive historical years, including the year for which the most recent data are available;

b. a ‘system’ means the power control area of the transmission or distribution network where the infrastructure or equipment is installed;

c. transmission systems may include generation capacity connected to subordinated distribution systems;

d. distribution systems subordinated to a transmission system that is deemed to be on a trajectory to full decarbonisation may also be deemed to be on a trajectory to full decarbonisation;

e. to determine compliance, it is possible to consider a system covering multiple control areas which are interconnected and with significant energy exchanges between them, in which case the weighted average emissions factor across all included control areas is used, and individual subordinated transmission or distribution systems within that system is not required to demonstrate compliance separately;

f. it is possible for a system to become non-compliant after having previously been compliant. In systems that become non-compliant, no new transmission and distribution activities are compliant from that moment onward, until the system complies again with the threshold (except for those activities that are always compliant, see above). Activities in subordinated systems may still be compliant, where those subordinated systems meet the criteria of this Section;

g. a direct connection or expansion of an existing direct connection to production plants includes infrastructure that is indispensable to carry the associated electricity from the power generating facility to a substation or to the network.