The selected demonstration projects will receive EU funding for developing the technology used to trap CO2 emissions from power plants and industrial installations burning fossil fuels. The list was presented to member state experts last Thursday (1 October).
The Hatfield power plant in the north of England, Vattenfall's Jaenschwalde plant in Germany, Endesa's Compostilla plant in Spain, the Maasvlakte plant in the Netherlands and Belchatow in Poland would receive up to €180 million each, according to reports. In addition, Porto Tolle in Italy is lined up to receive €100 million.
A French CO2 transport project was dropped from the list as it did not meet all the requirements, sources told EurActiv.
Eleven projects were submitted by the mid-July deadline. A total of thirteen projects were originally identified as eligible for Community funding under the European Energy Programme for Recovery (EurActiv 08/07/09), but only one project per member state could receive funding.
Member states have two weeks to reject the proposal before it moves on to the European Parliament. UK Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, who steered the EU's CCS legislation through the EU assembly last year, said that MEPs would likely accept the plan as it stands now.
Missing leadership
Speaking at a conference in Brussels yesterday, Davies said that it was high time for the Commission to put forward demonstration projects. He pointed out that it has been 2.5 years since member states requested the EU executive to identify 10-12 large-scale CCS demonstration projects in March 2007.
The MEP, known as the Parliament's CCS defender, called on the Commission to become the champion of a technology that would help curb 40% of Europe's CO2 emissions from gas and coal power stations.
"We need our next Commission to be leading from the front," Davies said.
He pointed out that the whole process of setting up demonstration plants is painfully slow, not least because of negative reactions regarding perceived health hazards from leaked CO2 or the view that funding CCS sets a wrong precedent in the face of a need to move to low-carbon alternative energies.
Davies remarked that the first discussion on CCS in the newly-elected Parliament had revealed that the same concerns persist as during the previous term.
"The majority of members spoke against the principle," he said, adding that the education challenge is still there.
The MEP acknowledged that underground storage is a difficult thing for politicians to justify to their electors as there is not yet sufficient knowledge to give guarantees that it is entirely safe. However, he said it is a "hazard that can be managed".
EU CCS funding principles questioned
In addition to the recovery funds, the EU is funding the fledging technology from the 'new entrants reserve' of its emissions Ttading scheme (EU ETS; see EurActiv LinksDossier). But the industry says that the emerging principles (EurActiv 10/06/09) on how to distribute the 300 million carbon allowances set aside for CCS and innovative renewable projects do not make full use of the money.
"The industry wants to increase the value of the 300 million allowances," Gijs van Breda Vriesman from the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) told the Brussels conference.
ZEP argues that the latest draft on the selection procedure would favour low-cost projects. They said that rejecting the option for upfront payment would exclude more risky ventures that are needed to demonstrate the full range of CCS technologies.
