Bellona Europa does not aspire to unveil the official list of CCS projects, which have applied to the NER300 funding since not all the Member States have disclosed their respective list of applicants. They will, however, need to communicate the number of applicants in each category of the NER300 to the Commission by March 9^th.

The NER300 is the world’s largest CCS funding mechanism: the European Commission will grant 300 million EU emission unit allowances (EUAs) – today worth about €4.5bn– to fund at least eight CCS projects and 34 renewable energy projects. Grants financed by the sale of a first tranche of 200 million EUAs will be awarded under the current call for proposals.

The projects had to submit the formal proposals to their respective Member States by February 9^th. From then on, the Member States have three more months to decide which projects they want to support, and by how much they want to co-fund them.

The overwhelming number of UK applications

Showing once again its lead on the CCS development in Europe, the UK was the first country to announce the list of projects, which includes five projects for innovative renewable and nine CCS projects. Nonetheless, each country will be allowed a maximum of three projects according to the rules for the NER300.

Following the UK government’s decision to open the national CCS competition to gas power plants, there are two projects out of nine involving gas power plants, one using post-combustion CO₂ capture in Peterhead entered by SSE in Scotland and one at the Hatfield gas power plant (already the location of an IGCC coal project, see below). 

• The CCS projects on coal-fired power plant in the UK are the following: Longannet (located in Scotland, developed by Scottish Power and the sole remaining contender in the UK competition for a first CCS demonstration project), the Drax project in Sulby (entered by Drax and Alstom), the Lynemouth project (Alcan, Progressive Energy), the pre-combustion project in Eston Grange (Progressive Energy), a Hatfield project developed by Powerfuel (already awarded €180 million from the EEPR) one in Hunterston by Ayrshire Power and an IGCC plant with a capacity of 430MW in Killingholme (Humber) developed by C.Gen.

Applicant CCS projects in other European countries

• In Netherlands, there are four tenders to the NER 300. There first candidate is planned to operate in the Northern seaport of Eemshaven. It would be a post-combustion project based on 10% biomass co-fired with coal, developed by RWE. The second project is an IGCC plant developed by Vattenfall at Buggenum, and the third one is being developed by Pegasus/SEQ in Rotterdam, presumably at a hydrogen manufacturing plant. The last one is an oxyfuel project using HISARNA capture technology and previously planned for a Corus steel plant but recently moved to the Rotterdam area. It has a storage site, but the source remains unclear.

Other countries have received applications for a single CCS project:

• In Italy, the post-combustion CCS project in Porto Tolle aims at capturing and storing parts of the CO₂ from a new 660MW coal-fired unit. It has already been awarded €100 million from the EEPR 
• The single CCS bid from Spain is the OXYCFB300 in Compostilla, based on an oxy-combustion coal-fired plant, with CO₂ storage in a saline aquifer. It has already been awarded €180 million from the EEPR
• The French candidate is the industrial project developed by ArcelorMittal at its Florange steelworks in northern France.
• In Germany, the Jänshwalde project, which also runs for the competition, has already received €180 million from the EEPR for an oxyfuel coal-based project.
• As for Poland, the Belchatow power plant consists in a 250MW capture plant at a new coal-fired unit, using an amines-based capture technology. It has already been awarded €180 million from the EEPR
• In Romania, the Turceni power plant, which relies on a post-combustion capture facility, plans to store the captured CO₂ from a newly modernised lignite-fired unit of 330MW in one of the deep saline aquifers in the area.

See all the projects in this presentation