Europe Releases 1.5 Billion Euros in Grants for CCS and Offshore Projects

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Fifteen offshore energy and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects are to get a vital financial boost as the European Commission (EC) this week approved more than 1.5 billion euros ($2.21 billion) in funding.

Industrial Info revealed the potential winners for CCS funding in October, and the EC has followed through by confirming that the funds are now set to be released. For additional information, see related article from October 9, 2009 - Hatfield CCS Project Tipped for European Funding. More than 1 billion euros ($1.47 billion) has been allocated to six CCS projects, while 565 million euros ($831.8 million) will go to speed up the development of nine offshore wind energy projects.

The six winning CCS projects include:

• the Hatfield coal-fired integrated gas combined-cycle plant in Hatfield from Powerfuel Power Limited (Doncaster, England)
• Endesa SA's (MCE:ELE) (Madrid, Spain) Compostilla plant in Spain
• Vattenfall AB's (Stockholm, Sweden) Jaenschwalde plant in Germany
• PGE Elektrownia's Belchatow plant in Poland
• the Maasvlakte power plant in Rotterdam, Netherlands, owned by E.ON Benelux (Rotterdam)
• the Italian Porto Tolle plant near Venice, owned by Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) (Rome)

Of the listed plants, the first five will receive 180 million euros ($265 million), while Porto Tolle will receive about 100 million euros ($147 million).

"With this decision, the Commission has laid the foundation for the development of two key sustainable technologies that will be essential in our fight against climate change," said Energy Commissioner Andreas Piebalgs. "This unique decision by the Commission does not only give a push to the economy and employment, but also it supports innovative energy technologies that may create further jobs and growth in the future."

Focusing on CCS, Piebalgs explained: "Six is really the minimum to start with. Without CCS, we really can't make a sufficient contribution to capping greenhouse gas emissions."

In a statement, the EC said: "By promoting the technology of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), the Commission recognises the continued importance of fossil-fuelled power and the need to adapt to a low-carbon energy system. The offshore wind energy projects enhance the development and consolidation of a competitive offshore wind industry in Europe and create numerous green jobs."

Nine offshore projects were approved for funding, with the biggest winner being the Kriegers Flak project in the Baltic Sea. The project will receive 150 million euros ($220.8 million) to interconnect the German, Swedish and Danish windfarms in the Kriegers Flak region through a modular-based combined solution, linking up the national grid connections.

In Scotland, more than 74 million euros ($108.9 million) was awarded to Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission Limited (Perth, Scotland) to establish a high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) link between Shetland and the Scottish mainland for connecting offshore wind and marine generation. A further 40 million euros ($58.9 million) went to Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm, a testing facility for multi-megawatt turbines, innovative structures and sun-structures.

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