A total of five carbon capture network projects, one gas storage project and two projects in the electricity sector have secured the funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Trans-European Network for Energy initiative.

At a time when there is increasing momentum for the development of carbon capture, storage and utilisation (CCUS) to decarbonise hard-to abate sectors, an unprecedented amount of CEF funding for works (almost €480mn) will be awarded to four carbon transport and storage projects, reports the EC. They constitute the first building blocks of a future Europe-wide carbon value chain that are scheduled for completion before the end of the decade and are therefore expected to contribute to the EU’s 2030 decarbonisation objectives.

Some €189mn is intended for a CO₂ export hub in the port of Dunkirk in France, called D’Artagnan. CEF will support the construction of a collecting pipeline and an export terminal to provide industrial sites in the port and its hinterland with a route to export their captured carbon to storage sites abroad.

A further €157mn will fund CO₂ infrastructure in the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, consisting of an import terminal for the reception of CO₂ from carbon capture sites in various member states (CO₂NEXT project, €33mn in CEF grant) and of a 200 km subsea trunkline (Aramis project, €124mn in CEF grant) connecting the port to the future CO₂ storage site in a depleted gas field offshore.

An additional €131mn is intended for the Northern Lights initiative, a cross-border project linking CO₂ capture initiatives in several EU member states with a future storage site at sea on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The proposed CEF grant will support the expansion of the CO₂ import terminal in Øygarden in Norway and the construction of a 100 km offshore pipeline to the storage site.

Meanwhile, in the electricity sector, funding for works worth €100mn will be awarded to the Gabreta smart grids project, located between Czechia and Germany. Gabreta will allow for the integration of renewable electricity, notably by reducing bottlenecks in connection requests, improving grid controllability, and enabling innovative market solutions.

The existing Depomures natural gas storage facility in Romania will receive funding worth €12.77mn to increase its working capacity and its daily injection and withdrawal rates. This upgrade will help facilitate market integration and natural gas security of supply for Romania and its neighbouring countries by mitigating the lack of storage capacity in a region greatly affected by the gas crisis, notes the EC.

Finally, the EU CCS Interconnector, a CO₂ infrastructure project Gdansk in in Poland, and the project to reinforce the Lonny-Achêne-Gramme electricity interconnector between France and Belgium will both be awarded CEF funding for studies necessary to their implementation, worth €2.54mn and €1.22mn respectively.