Selected as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) infrastructure program, the projects are expected to improve energy security and help integrate renewable energy sources into the electricity grid.

EU climate action and energy commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said: "The completion of a truly competitive EU-wide energy market is essential in order to turn the Energy Union into a reality."

Of the total funding, €70m will be distributed among nine electricity projects and €80m among gas projects.

The electricity projects include feasibility studies for Celtic interconnector that will link France and Ireland, construction of a 400kV internal transmission line in Bulgaria and the Lithuanian part of the Litpol Link that will connect Lithuania and other Baltic States into the Continental Europe grid.

The gas sector funds will be used to carry out studies for the Chiren underground storage expansion project in Bulgaria and construction of an interconnection between Poland and the Czech Republic. The projects will identify various practices of odorizing gas in the transmission system and find solutions to allow bidirectional flows on a major north-south pipeline in Germany.

As a project of common interest (PCI) under the EU program, Gaelectric has secured €6.47m grant for its compressed air energy storage (CAES) project near Larne in Northern Ireland. The project is designed to store energy in the form of compressed air in caverns within geological salt deposits.

Gaelectric CEO Brendan McGrath said: "The Larne CAES project is the only storage PCI in the UK and the only CAES PCI in Europe.

"Larne and Northern Ireland will become the blueprint for CAES storage and the integration of renewable energy sources across the rest of the UK and Europe."

The EC will later announce the list of selected proposals for financial assistance under CEF-Energy.

As part of the CEF programme, EU has set aside €5.35bn for trans-European energy infrastructure projects between 2014 and 2020.