European Union:

EU Announces 1 Billion Euro Funding for Carbon Capture Projects Including Geothermal (Reuters)

Over 30 Million Euros go to two geothermal projects in Croatia and on the France/Germany border

The European Union has announced finance for installations of innovative renewable energy technology for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the EU, including a geothermal power plant straddling the French-German border and another in Croatia.

The funding for the projects under the NER300 program comes from revenues resulting from the sale of emission allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System. This makes the polluters the driving force behind developing new low-carbon initiatives.

The Geothermae geothermal project concerns the production of electricity and heat from a geothermal aquifer and its associated natural gas. The project, in Draskovec, close to the city of Prelog in Croatia, will generate 3.1 MWe from geothermal hot brine using an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC).

The French-German cross border GEOSTRAS geothermal project aims to produce electricity and heat from a high temperature geothermal resource near Strasbourg. It involves creating a circulation loop several kilometers long at a depth of between 4 km and 5 km that will function as a semi-open underground heat exchanger. The proposed geothermal plant is expected to produce 6.7 MWe electricity and 34.7 MWth heat.

EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the 28-nation bloc would award a total 1 billion euros under the NER300 program to 19 projects in 12 member states. The geothermal power plant in Croatia will receive EUR14,740,181 in total and the French/German project EUR16,839,180.

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