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NER300: First Romanian integrated CCS candidate project launched

Publish date: December 9, 2010

The Romanian CCS demonstration candidate project was officially launched in Brussels on the occasion of the National Day of Romania 1st December by the Romanian Ministry of Economy, Trade and the Business Environment (METBE). The CCS technology will be integrated into the Turceni coal power plant in Oltenia - the most energy intensive region of Romania. Bellona Europa welcomes Romania’s commitment to CCS as it paves the way for CCS development in South-East Europe. Moreover, it is the first project to officially announce its participation in the NER300 competition.

One unit at the Turceni power plant is currently being retrofitted to reduce local pollutants by 2013. This makes it comparatively easier to also equip it for CCS, allowing the capture, transport and storage of 1,5 million tonnes per year of CO₂: CO₂ will be captured in a 330 megawatt (MW) power unit by the Turceni Energy Complex operator through a post-combustion system which ensures minimum 85% removal efficiency from flue gases. The CO₂ will be transported via pipelines, which may be already used as high pressure natural gas routes, before being stored in deep saline aquifers more than 800 meters underground within a radius of 50 km from Turceni. Investigations have shown the existence of eleven potential CO₂ storage sites in onshore deep saline aquifers within this area.

CCS is crucial in Romania, which generates 55% of its electricity from coal. Moreover, the availability of vast onshore CO₂ storage capacity, and the ability to use CO2 for enhanced gas recovery in existing gas fields makes CCS a promising climate change mitigation tool for the country.

The Turceni project, led by the Romanian Government (METBE), will become the first in South-East Europe. It is currently focused on the feasibility study and preparing its application to the EU-NER300 funding program. Other possible funding sources include the operators, the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, EU ETS auctioning revenues and national public funds..

Under the NER300 call for proposals, the project will have to submit its application to the Romanian government by February, 9th 2011, and Romania will have to submit a final application to the European Investment Bank by May 9th, 2011.

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