EU to Push Energy Transition

EU decided to lead the global energy transition starting with € 1.1 billion through the EU Innovation Fund - EU confirmed it will heavily fund technologies to facilitate european energy transition and to enable european companies to make global progress - A strategy that will bear fruit by 2030 and will prepare the climate neutrality targets for 2050. EU Innovation Fund is part of EU global financing strategy for Energy Research & Innovation.
​
By eEuropa

​Brussels, 17 June 2022

First call for €1.0 billion ​
On 1st April 2022, the European Commission signed grant agreements of €1 billion with seven large-scale projects (read the list of projects at the bottom of the page) via the EU Innovation Fund, funded by revenues from the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS). These projects aim to reduce emissions by over 76 Mt of CO2eq during the first ten years of operation. The seven projects are deploying innovative low-carbon technologies at industrial scale, covering key sectors such as hydrogen, steel, chemicals, cement, solar energy, biofuels, and carbon capture and storage.

EU is financing breakthrough technologies for renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage, as well as capture, use and storage of CO2. For promising technologies but not mature enough for a grant, there will be project development assistance from the European Investment Bank.

Second call for €100 million  - Deadline : 31 August 2022
On 31 March 2022, the European Commission launched the second call. 
The new call will provide grant funding of €100 million to small-scale projects, i.e. projects with a capital expenditure between €2.5 and 7.5 million. The deadline for submission of applications is 31 August 2022. Applicants will be informed about the results of the evaluation in the first quarter of 2023. The grants will be awarded to successful projects indicatively in May 2023.​
​
How to participate to the EU calls?
The deadline for the first call expired at the beginning of March 2022, while the deadline for submitting applications for the second call is August 31, 2022. Applicants will be informed of the results of the evaluation in the first quarter of 2023. The grants will be awarded to successful projects in approximately May 2023.
​
EU Innovation Fund (successor of NER300 programme)
EU Innovation Fund, which is financed with the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS),  is one of the world's largest funding programmes for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies. The Innovation Fund provides around €38 billion of grants, supporting from 2020 to 2030 (at €75/tCO2), depending on the carbon price, for the commercial demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies, aiming to bring to the market industrial solutions to decarbonise Europe and support its transition to climate neutrality.

Innovation Fund is supporting innovation in:
​
  1. Energy intensive industries
  2. Renewable
  3. Energy storage
  4. Carbon Capture, use and storage


The Innovation Fund will support up to 60% of the additional capital and operational costs of large-scale projects and up to 60% of the capital costs of small-scale projects.

The grants will be disbursed in a flexible way based on project financing needs, taking into account the milestones achieved during the project lifetime. Up to 40% of the grants can be given based on pre-defined milestones before the whole project is fully up and running.

​© Copyright eEuropa Belgium 2020-2022

EU Commission awards over €1 billion to innovative projects for the EU climate transition


LIST OF FINANCED PROJECTS

​Kairos@C- Port of Antwerp (Belgium)

The Kairos@C project aims to create the first and largest cross-border carbon capture and storage value chain to capture, liquefy, ship, and permanently store CO2. Kairos@C will enable the deployment of several pioneering technologies that together have the potential to avoid the emission into the atmosphere of 14 Mt of CO2eq over its first ten years of operation.

BECCS - Stockholm (Sweden)

This project aims to create a full-scale Bio-Energy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) facility at the existing heat and power biomass plant in Stockholm. Combining CO2 capture with heat recovery the project will avoid 7.83 Mt of CO2eq emissions during its first ten years of operation. This is more than the entire amount of greenhouse gas emissions from public sector electricity and heat production in Sweden in 2018.

Hybrit Demonstration - Oxelösund and Gällivare (Sweden)

The Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology Demonstration project (Hybrit Demonstration) aims to revolutionise the European iron and steel industry. It will replace fossil-based technologies with climate-neutral alternatives such as green hydrogen production and use. The project has the potential to avoid the emission of 14.3 Mt of CO2eq over its first ten years of operation. Moreover, it will use a technology associated with major climate benefits for the steel production sector.

Ecoplanta - 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 kt/y of methanol, and thereby recover 70% of the carbon present in non-recyclable materials. The project will avoid the emission of 3.4 Mt of CO2eq over its first ten years of operation.

K6 Program - Lumbres (France)

The K6 Program aims to produce the first carbon-neutral cement in Europe, becoming a representative project for the cement industry worldwide and supporting the clean energy transition of a hard-to-abate sector. The project 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 that otherwise would be emitted to the atmosphere. This will result in the avoidance of 8.1 Mt of CO2eq emissions over its first ten years of operation.

TANGO - 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 15, up from 200 MW to 3 GW per year. Once in operation, the produced modules will have the potential to avoid up to 25 Mt of CO2eq emissions over the first ten years. Moreover, the TANGO project will reinforce the value chain in the European upstream PV industry.

SHARC - 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 ten years of operation, the SHARC project will avoid the emission of more than 4 Mt of CO2eq.
Background​

Funded by revenues from the auction of emission allowances from the EU's ETS, the Innovation Fund aims to create the right financial incentives for companies and public authorities to invest now in the next generation of low-carbon technologies and give EU companies a first-mover advantage to become global technology leaders.

The Innovation Fund is implemented by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), while the European Investment Bank provides the project development assistance to promising projects that are not ready for full application. The Fund also provides small-scale grants.

The Innovation Fund is currently sourced from 450 million allowances from the existing ETS in 2021-30. Under the European Commission's Fit for 55 proposals, it would be topped up with 50 million allowances from the revised ETS and 150 million allowances from the new system covering emissions from road transport and buildings. In addition, allowances which would otherwise be allocated for free to industry sectors covered by the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism would be auctioned and added to the Innovation Fund.

​For the preparation of candidates for these two calls, an information day was organized on 10 November 2021 to give potential candidates and other interested parties the opportunity to obtain information and ask questions about the new call.

​Here the recording of the meeting:
"Being Member of eEuropa gave us a boost from the very beginning. We are now informed on a daily basis of the decisions taken in Brussels on energy matters. We have a perfect strategic vision, knowing in advance the future political objectives, without taking risks. We now have what we need to confidently invest in research, innovation and production. "
​
Client, Vice-President of the strategic planning 
Enter the EU Energy Policy Platform

Inside:
. Strategy: Internal Market, Strategy on Climate and Energy
. EU Legislation: in force and in preparation
. Policies & Instruments: Efficiency, Renewables, Security, Research & Innovation
​. EU Funds: Programmes, Calls & Tenders​​​ & support