Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility - Co-funding Rate
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See in 5 min if you're eligible for Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility - Co-funding Rate offering max €780.0M funding💰 Funding Details
Funding Description – CEF-T-2024-AFIFGEN-COSTS
🛈 What the Grant Finances
The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF) under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) supports capital-expenditure (“works”) projects that deploy zero- and low-carbon fuel infrastructure along the TEN-T network. Specifically, the COSTS topic co-funds:
* High-power electricity recharging for Heavy-Duty Vehicles (HDVs)
• Minimum 150 kW, 350 kW and 1 MW charge points on core/comprehensive TEN-T road sections, secure truck parking and logistics hubs.
* Hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS)
• For HDVs on TEN-T roads
• For public transport fleets in bus depots, non-electrified rail sections, shunting terminals and isolated rail networks.
* Port & Airport infrastructure
• H₂ refuelling and shore-side electricity for inland waterway and maritime vessels, port equipment and air-side vehicles.
* Bunkering infrastructure for ammonia or methanol in maritime & inland TEN-T ports.
* Kick-start vessels (inland waterway & short-sea only) – limited to the incremental cost over a fossil-fuel equivalent when demonstrably required to trigger use of the new infrastructure.
* Synergetic green hydrogen production units (electrolysers) when directly feeding the transport installation, subject to the 10 % ceiling and rules in WP §10.6.
Eligibility Snapshot
| Criterion | Key Requirements |
|-----------|-----------------|
| Applicants | • Legal entities (public or private) established in EU-27 or overseas territories.
• Individual applicants or consortia (recommended for multimodal/ cross-border projects). |
| Project Location | Infrastructure must be situated on, or serve, the core or comprehensive TEN-T network (including nodes such as ports, airports, terminals, logistics hubs, secure parking areas). |
| Project Maturity | • Final investment decision by grant agreement signature.
• All permits obtained or at very advanced stage. |
| Financial Closure | A Letter of Support / Financing from a financing institution (EIB, national promotional bank, commercial bank, leasing company, etc.) covering the non-EU share is mandatory. |
| Environmental Compliance | Completed screening under EU and national EIA/SEA rules. |
Funding Rates & Budget
* Indicative call envelope: €780 million (shared between COSTS & UNITS topics; budget is re-allocated at each cut-off).
* EU co-funding rates (budget-based grants)
• Works: up to 30 % of eligible costs.
• Cross-border sections / outermost regions: up to 50 %.
• Ancillary studies (when forming ≤50 % of total project): up to 50 %.
• Synergetic green H₂ production elements: up to 40 %, capped at 10 % of total eligible costs.
* Disbursement: pre-financing (≈40 %), interim payment(s) on actual costs, balance after final report.
Timeline (Multiple Cut-Offs)
1. 24 Sept 2024 – 17:00 CET
2. 11 Jun 2025 – 17:00 CET
3. 04 Mar 2026 – 17:00 CET
Evaluation ≈6 months ➜ Grant Agreement signature ≈9 months after cut-off.
Non-Eligible Costs
* Purchase of road vehicles (except the inland/short-sea pilot vessels noted above).
* Pure R&D activities, pilot studies not linked to immediate deployment.
* Infrastructure outside TEN-T scope or not open to third-party use (unless justified for captive public fleets).
Key Documents
* AFIF Call Text (version 10 March 2025).
* CEF 2 Transport Work Programme 2024-2026.
* Model Grant Agreement (CEF-AG).
* TEN-T maps & implementing regulations.
Bottom Line
AFIF-COSTS is the EU’s flagship grant line for large-scale, CAPEX-intensive alternative fuel infrastructure projects that are bankable but need a 30–50 % public-funding push to reach investment decision and close the green-mobility gap on the TEN-T network.
📊 At a Glance
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🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities under CEF-T-2024-AFIFGEN-COSTS
1. Single Market Access – 450+ Million Consumers
• Deploying high-power recharging and hydrogen/ammonia/methanol bunkering along the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) immediately positions beneficiaries in the backbone of EU freight and passenger flows (≈75 % of EU cross-border road freight and 50 % of maritime calls).
• Harmonised technical requirements (e.g. AFIR, ADR, Ship Energy Efficiency regulations) ensure infrastructure certified in one Member State can be commercialised and operated EU-wide without redesign, reducing unit cost and accelerating pay-back periods.
• Early movers secure first-generation usage contracts with Europe-wide logistics operators, OEMs and shipping lines who require interoperable refuelling options for pan-European fleets.
2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange
• The call prioritises corridors crossing ≥2 Member States; consortia can pool traffic data, site control and permitting expertise, lowering CAPEX/ OPEX by up to 15 % compared with purely national roll-outs.
• Multinational special-purpose vehicles qualify for higher CEF co-funding (up to 50 % for cross-border studies) and benefit from joint procurement volumes for chargers, dispensers and cryogenic storage.
• Synergies with EU Partnerships (Clean Hydrogen JU, Zero-Emission Waterborne Transport) open access to TRL 6-9 prototypes and validated safety cases, shortening certification cycles.
3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies
• European Green Deal & Fit-for-55: helps meet mandatory AFIR minimum targets (e.g. ≥3 600 kW per HDV charging hub every 60 km on core TEN-T by 2030).
• REPowerEU: eligible production of green hydrogen as “synergetic element” supports 10 Mt domestic H₂ production goal.
• Sustainable & Smart Mobility Strategy: addresses Milestone 2 (“zero-emission vessels and vehicles & at least 30 M zero-emission cars by 2030”).
• TEN-T Regulation recast (2024): priority corridors and stringent climate-proofing requirements translate into accelerated permit granting procedures (12 months max) for CEF-funded works.
4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits
• Pan-European technical standards for charging interfaces (MCS for ≥1 MW, ISO 15118-20, HFIR for H₂) remove country-specific certification loops.
• State-aid exemption under the General Block Exemption Regulation (Art. 56b) eases national co-financing and de-risks private capital.
• EU taxonomy alignment facilitates green-bond issuance and lowers weighted cost of capital by 30–80 bp.
5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem
• Eligibility to combine with Horizon Europe demo data enables real-time monitoring & predictive maintenance pilots (AI/IoT integration) via GAIA-X cloud nodes.
• Collaboration with EIT Urban Mobility and EIT InnoEnergy provides venture co-investment and skills development for staff (Master School, Professional Education).
• Use of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) accelerates cybersecurity compliance for smart chargers and refuelling stations.
6. Funding Synergies & Leverage
• CEF co-funding rates up to 30 % (works) can be blended with:
- InvestEU Sustainable Infrastructure Window (guarantees/ equity),
- Recovery & Resilience Facility national envelopes for grid upgrades,
- Cohesion Fund/ERDF in eligible regions to raise total public support to ~60 % of eligible costs.
• EIB Green Shipping & Cleaner Transport Loan Programmes offer long tenors (up to 20 yrs) and grace periods aligned with CEF milestones.
• Innovative finance: CEF Debt Instrument or Green ABS for charger revenue streams, de-risked by CEF grant.
7. Scale, Replicability & Market Impact
• Uniform KPI reporting (GWh delivered, tCO₂e avoided) across Member States provides bankable performance data for scaling.
• AFIF extension principle (2025 update) allows quick top-ups for successful projects, creating continuous deployment pipelines without new calls.
• EU-wide deployment potential: up to 12 000 HDV chargers, 400 H₂ stations, 100 methanol/ammonia bunkering points by 2030; estimated 3.4 Mt CO₂e annual abatement.
8. Actionable Opportunities for Applicants
1. Form corridor-based alliances (e.g. Rotterdam-Genoa, Baltic-Adriatic) to achieve cross-border bonus points.
2. Integrate renewable generation (on-site PV, PPAs) and electrolyser capacity as eligible synergetic costs (Section 10.6) for higher CEF co-funding.
3. Combine port electrification projects with inland-waterway vessel retrofits (difference-in-cost eligible) to capture multimodal decarbonisation benefits.
4. Leverage updated eligibility for rail & bus depots to include H₂ refuelling for shunting locomotives and last-mile logistics e-trucks.
5. Use CEF’s standardised PPP templates to crowd-in institutional investors seeking EU taxonomy-aligned assets.
9. Strategic Value of an EU-Level Approach
• Economies of scale in hardware procurement and interoperable software platforms.
• Political visibility and priority treatment through CEF label – facilitates local permits and grid connections.
• Contribution to EU strategic autonomy in clean fuels and infrastructure supply chains.
• Ability to influence forthcoming technical standards via participation in EU expert groups financed under the project (eligible soft cost).
Bottom Line: Competing as a purely national project risks stranded assets and sub-scale economics. Leveraging the CEF Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility at EU scale unlocks superior funding, harmonised regulation, cross-border user demand and political momentum, creating a fast-track pathway to commercially viable, continent-wide zero-emission transport infrastructure.
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See in 5 min if you're eligible for Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility - Co-funding Rate offering max €780.0M funding