As part of the scheme confirmed on Wednesday by the EU member states, ELES will get up to EUR 48.22m for the construction of the power line between Žerjavinec in Croatia, Heviz in Hungary and Cirkovce in Slovenia.

The grid operator will also get up to EUR 1.65m for work on a smart network as part of the second phase of the Sincro.grid project with Croatia, the European Commission said as it announced financial support for a total of 14 projects.

The Commission said that it had favoured projects which were expected to boost competitiveness and security of power supply, as well as the efficiency of networks and environmental protection.

The EU had already provided EUR 40.5m for the Sincro.grid project, which aims at securing a more efficient use of the existing electricity transmission networks in Slovenia and Croatia by allowing them to accept larger quantities of electricity from renewables and ensure a more reliable supply.

The cross-border project Žerjavinec-Heviz-Cirkovce will meanwhile be Slovenia's first connection with the transmission network of Hungary.

According to ELES, the project will boost the reliability of the power system in north-eastern Slovenia in case of unforeseen events and other difficulties, with support being enabled by the Hungarian network.