The seven projects – which will aim to reduce emissions by over 76mn tonnes of CO₂e during their first 10 years of operation – are all deploying innovative low carbon technologies at industrial scale, and cover key sectors such as hydrogen, steel, chemicals, cement, solar, biofuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Projects in brief 

Kairos@C – Located in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium, the Kairos@C project aims to create the first cross-border CCS value chain to capture, liquefy, ship and permanently store CO₂. The project will enable the deployment of several pioneering technologies that together have the potential to avoid emissions of 14mn tonnes of CO₂e over its first decade of operation.

BECCS at Stockholm – 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, Sweden. Combining CO₂ capture with heat recovery, the project aims to avoid 7.83mn tonnes of CO₂e emissions during its first 10 years of operation. This is more than all greenhouse gas emissions from public sector electricity and heat production in Sweden in 2018.

Hybrit Demonstration – Located in 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 14.3mn tonnes of CO₂e over 10 years. 

Ecoplanta – Located in 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 237,000 t/y of methanol, and thereby recover 70% of the carbon present in non-recyclable materials. The project aims to avoid the emission of 3.4mn tonnes of CO₂e over its first 10 years of operation. 

K6 Programme – Located in Lumbres, France, The K6 Programme aims to produce the first carbon-neutral cement in Europe, supporting the clean energy transition of a hard-to-abate sector. The project will deploy an industrial-scale combination of an airtight kiln and cryogenic carbon capture technology with CO₂ storage in the North Sea. This will result in the avoidance of an expected 8.1mn tonnes of CO₂e emissions over its first decade of operation. 

TANGO – located in Catania, Italy, the TANGO project will develop an industrial-scale pilot line for the manufacturing of high-performance photovoltaic modules. It will increase production capacity 15-fold, up from 200 MW to 3 GW/y. Once in operation, the produced modules will have the potential to avoid up to 25mn tonnes of CO₂e emissions over the first 10 years. 

SHARC – located at the 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 10 years of operation, it is estimated the SHARC project will avoid the emission of more than 4mn tonnes of CO₂e. 

Background

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 Fund is implemented by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, while the European Investment Bank provides development assistance to projects that are not ready for full application. The Fund also provides small-scale grants and in March, a second call for proposals was launched.