Europe Awards $1 Billion to Seven Low-Carbon Projects

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--More than 1 billion euro (US$1.1 billion) in funding has been awarded by the European Commission (EC) to seven large-scale projects deploying low-carbon technologies.

The winning projects, chosen from more than 300 applications, are being funded through the EU Innovation Fund, which is financed by the European Union's carbon tax system, the Emissions Trading System (ETS). They cover a range of sectors including hydrogen, steel, chemicals, cement, solar energy, biofuels, and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

"With the Innovation Fund, the European Commission is granting 1.1 billion euro to empower innovative, forward thinking businesses that develop cutting-edge technologies and drive the climate transition in their respective fields," said executive vice-president for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans. "This is a smart investment into the decarbonisation and resilience of our economy; it boosts European industry's position as global leaders in clean tech, creates local jobs, and helps to accelerate our green transition."

Director of European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), Dirk Beckers, added: "CINEA is proud to sign the very first large-scale projects under the Innovation Fund. With these projects, we demonstrate that the clean energy transition is already happening, while substantially reducing the greenhouse gas emissions brings economic opportunities for our project promoters. These projects represent highly innovative solutions in their sectors which should pave the way for others to follow."

The seven projects are:

• Kairos@C: Located in the Port of Antwerp (Belgium), the Kairos@C project--also known as Antwerp@C--aims to create the first and largest cross-border carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain to capture, liquefy, ship, and permanently store CO2. Employing numerous pioneering technologies, it aims to offset the emissions equivalent of 14 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2 in its first 10 years of operation. Commissioning is expected in 2025.Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here to view the eight projects being tracked.
• BECCS at Stockholm: The project aims to create a full-scale BioEnergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) facility at the existing heat and power biomass plant in Stockholm, Sweden. Combining CO2 capture with heat recovery the project will avoid 7.83 Mt of CO2 emissions during its first ten years of operation. This is more than the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from public sector electricity and heat production in Sweden in 2018.
• Hybrit Demonstration: Located in Oxelösund and Gällivare (Sweden), the Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology Demonstration project (Hybrit Demonstration) aims to revolutionize the European iron and steel industry by replacing fossil-based technologies with climate-neutral alternatives such as green hydrogen production and use. The pilot plant at Luleå has already produced its first fossil-free sponge iron. The industrial-scale plant at Gällivare will be online by 2030 and will have a total capacity of 2.7 million tonnes of fossil-free sponge iron a year. It will also avoid the emission of 14.3 Mt of CO2 over its first 10 years of operation. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the report.
• Ecoplanta: Located in El Morell (Spain), this project will deliver a first-of-a-kind commercial plant for the European market, using waste that would otherwise end up in landfills. The plant will produce 237 kilo-tonnes per year of methanol, recovering over 70% of the carbon present in non-recyclable materials. The project will avoid the emission of 3.4 Mt of CO2 over its first 10 years of operation.
• K6 Program: Located in Lumbres (France), the K6 Program aims to produce the first carbon-neutral cement in Europe. It will deploy a first-of-a-kind industrial-scale combination of an airtight kiln and cryogenic carbon capture technology with CO2 storage in the North Sea site. CO2 equivalent emissions avoided will be 8.1 Mt in the first decade.
• TANGO: Located in Catania (Italy), the TANGO project will develop an industrial-scale pilot line for the manufacturing of innovative, high-performance photovoltaic (PV) modules. It will multiply production capacity by a factor of 15, up from 200 megawatts (MW) to 3 gigawatts (GW) per year. In addition to strengthening Europe's value chain in the upstream PV sector, the produced modules will have the potential to avoid up to 25 Mt of CO2 emissions over the first 10 years. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the report.
• SHARC: Located at the Porvoo refinery (Finland), the Sustainable Hydrogen and Recovery of Carbon project (SHARC) will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by moving away from the production of fossil-fuel based hydrogen towards both renewable hydrogen production (through the introduction of electrolysis) and hydrogen production by applying carbon capture technology. In the first 10 years the project will offset the emission of more than 4 Mt of CO2.

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