EU backs green projects with €118mn in grants
The European Commission (EC) has selected 32 green projects for €118mn ($140mn) in grants, including a bio-LNG scheme in the Netherlands, a carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiative in Iceland and a number of small-scale green hydrogen plans.
In a list posted on July 27, the EC proposed support for FirstBio2Shipping, a joint project between companies Attero and Bio-LNG Hub Wilp to build a plant to produce bio-LNG that can be used as a low-carbon shipping fuel. The plant will comprise a gas treatment unit, a bio-LNG polishing and storage unit and a carbon capture unit. It will produce 6mn m3/year of biogas, 2,400 metric tons/year of bio-methane and 5,000 mt of bio-CO2.
The facility relies on a technology patented by Nordsol called iLNG, the EC said, and would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 92% versus the reference scenario.
Another project on the list is a full-scale CO2 capture and mineral storage facility at the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant in Iceland. The facility dissolves CO2 in water as it flows into subsurface basalt rocks, where it is fixed into stable carbonates. It will have a capacity of 34,000 mt of CO2/yr.
"With today's investment, the EU is giving concrete support to clean tech projects all over Europe to scale up technological solutions that can help reach climate neutrality by 2050," the EC's executive vice president Frans Timmermans said. "The increase of the innovation fund proposed in the Fit for 55 package will enable the EU to support even more projects in the future, speed them up, and bring them to the market as quickly as possible."
Individual grant agreements are being prepared for the projects, which will have up to four years to reach financial closure.