The European Commission has awarded €1bn to 19 innovative renewable energy projects and the first carbon capture and storage (CCS) project under the NER 300 programme. The projects cover a wide range of low-carbon technologies − from CCS oxyfuel technology, bioenergy (including advanced biofuels), concentrated solar power and geothermal power to wind power, photovoltaics, ocean energy and smart grids. The projects will be hosted in 12 EU Member States: Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The €1bn allocated to projects under the second call for proposals will leverage over €860m of private investments and increase the annual EU renewable energy production by almost 8 TWh (equal to the annual electricity consumption of Latvia, or Cyprus and Malta combined). At the same time, the CCS project alone will capture 1.8 MtCO2/year. Projects under the two NER300 calls will collectively increase the annual EU renewable energy production by some 18 TWh. Adding the emissions captured by the CCS project, the amount of avoided CO2 corresponds to taking more than three million cars off the roads in the EU.
Source: European Commission