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The Shadow Group

07/12-2009

Bellona has established the so-called Shadow Group which is an open forum for information and knowledge sharing related to CCS development. The aim is to provide information about ongoing working processes in the EU and the ZEP related to CCS.

« Introduction	« CCS status in the EU
« ZEP status	« Events
« Minutes of meetings	« CCS news
« See also	« External links
« Contact data

Introduction

Bellona participates actively in the ZEP with the aim to ensure CCS is commercialized by 2020. In order to reach this ambitious objective, we wish to collaborate with other CCS stakeholder to ensure an optimized alignment of CCS activities in the EU and Norway. Bellona has therefore established the Shadow Group to ensure knowledge sharing.

We arrange two Shadow Group meetings annually where Bellona presents the status of ongoing work in ZEP and the EU related to CCS. In addition, all members of the group are encouraged to provide information and knowledge that Bellona can use in the ZEP working groups to accelerate the development of CCS.

Bellona also sends information by email to the Shadow Group two to four times annually with information on status of CCS development in the EU and the ZEP.

If you wish to be on our mailing list, please send an email to goril(at)bellona.no

CCS status in the EU

A brief overview of important milestones, upcoming challenges, and ongoing processes in the EU related to commercialization of CCS is listed below.

Seven CCS projects to receive €1bn EU funding

The European Commission has selected seven CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) projects that it says will share €1.05bn as part of the EU Economic Recovery Package (ERP). The plan was presented to member states on October 1st.
Read more

Coal-intensive Poland announces CCS project

Poland – Polish utility company PGE has decided that it will build a lignite-fired unit using CO2 capture and storage (CCS) at the Belchatow power plant. PGE will receive €180 million funding from the EU Economic Recovery Package (EERP).
Read more

The EU Energy and Climate Package

It was a great day for CCS enthusiasts when the European Parliament endorsed the energy package 17 December 2008. The energy package is a set of new directives that aims to improve energy security in Europe and make energy production greener. CCS is an important part of the energy package, and a new directive for CO₂ storage will establish a long-awaited regulatory framework for CCS in Europe.
Read more at the Bellona Web

Financing mechanism for CCS – New entrants reserves (NER)

The EU energy package contains a revision of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) which is a mechanism for trading CO₂ emission allowances. An interesting part of the revised EU ETS is that it sets aside 300 million emission allowances (EUA) from the so-called new entrants reserve (NER). These 300 million EUAs (“NER300”) are set aside for financing of CCS demonstration projects and innovative renewable projects. This could equal about 4.5-9 billion euros, depending on EUA prices.

The Commission has suggested to distribute the first 200 million allowances (NER) by 31 December 2011. Projects seeking financial support from this first call should submit their proposals by summer 2010. Projects that gets funding from this first call must be up and running by 2015.

There is planned a second call with deadline for award 31 December 2013. 100 million allowances (NER) will be awarded in this call to projects that must be in operation by 2017.

The status per December 2009 is that EU Member States are discussing the proposal from the Commission. Hopefully, there will be a decision early 2010.

Because of the value of the NER300, this process is probably the most important for how fast and wide the deployment of CCS will take place in the EU

Read more at the Bellona Web
Read more at MoM from Shadow Group Meeting 11 June 2009
Read more at MoM from Shadow Group Meeting 4 December 2009

Financing mechanism for CCS – The European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR)

The EU has agreed on a financial recovery programme that includes financing of CCS demonstration projects. The European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR) has a budget of nearly €4 billion worth of financial aid fort new energy-related investments, including €1.05 billion for CCS projects.

The tender for EEPR financing had deadline 15 July 2009, and the first contracts for financing of CCS demonstration projects is expected to be signed by the end of 2009.

The European CCS Project Network

The European Commission has established a network open for all European CCS demonstration projects. It is named ‘The CCS Project Network’ and the aim is to facilitate knowledge sharing and thereby ensure accelerated CCS deployment. The Norwegian company DNV will lead the network under the supervision of the Commission.
Download DNV presentation

Planned CCS demonstration project in the EU

At present, plans for over 20 commercial-scale CCS projects all over Europe exist. Take a look at the list of planned projects in Europe here.

Important challenge – ensuring CCS deployment in Member States

The EU has endorsed a new directive on CO₂ storage. The challenge is now to ensure that the directive is implemented in laws and regulations in Member States. This only adds to the challenge of financing CCS demonstration projects. The NER and EERP financing mechanisms will not cover the full cost, and funding from industry and Member States are also required to ensure the demonstration projects are fully financed.

Important challenge - public communication

Several planned European CCS demonstration projects have experienced huge problems the last months due to local opposition. The best example is the Barendrecht case where local authorities stopped a planned CO₂ storage project. Barendrecht and similar cases in Denmark and Germany shows how important it is with good public communication, because the opposition seems rooted in lack of information and knowledge about CCS.

ZEP status

A brief overview of recent deliverables from ZEP is listed below. A full overview is available at the ZEP website.

Recent ZEP deliverables:

ZEP NER recommendations
ZEP has released a paper on 7 July 2009 presenting its input to the European Commission during the comitology process that will determine the allocation of the New Entrant Reserve and the implementation of the demonstration projects whose funding it is intended to support.

Download paper with ZEP Recommendation for NER funding.

Download paper with ZEP comments to first draft allocation.

New ZEP website
ZEP has launched an upgraded version of its website this summer. The new website features a wealth of information and dedicated animations on the need for, and workings of, CCS and the safety of CO₂ storage. The web site will play an important role in public communication, and it will support ZEP’s objective of successfully deploying and implementing CCS.
The website is available at www.zeroemissionsplatform.eu

The EU demonstration programme for CCS
ZEP published a paper with recommendations for a EU CCS demonstration program in 2008. The recommendations were important input to the European Commission when the EU Energy and Climate Package was designed.
Download paper

Knowledge sharing

A report from ZEP with recommendations for how knowledge sharing should be addressed in the EU demonstration program for CCS was published autumn 2009. Download report.

Long-term R&D needs
A paper from ZEP with recommendation for long-term R&D activities on CCS will be available soon.

Events

Shadow Group meeting
The next Shadow Group meeting will be arranged in June 2010 in Oslo.

Minutes of meetings

MoM for previous Shadow Group meetings:

4 December 2009: Status of CCS in the ZEP and the EU. Download MoM
11 June 2009: The EU CCS Demonstration programme. Download MoM

27 November 2008: ZEP's proposal - EU Demonstration Programme for CCS. Download MoM
20 June 2008: Financing CCS; Meeting 20 June 2008. Download MoM
7 March 2008: The EU Climate Package. Download MoM
14 December 2007: Financing CCS demonstration projects. Download MoM
27 August 2007: ZEP's recommendation - build 10-12 CCS Demonstration projects. Download MoM
13 October 2006: Follow up on Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) and Strategic Deployment Document Download MoM
15 June 2006: SRA and SDD . Download MoM
1 March 2006: The ZEP. Download MoM

(MoM from 2008 or older are only available in Norwegian)

CCS news

CCS news from around the world is available from our CCS news site. You can also subscribe to our CCS Newsletter.

External links

ZEP home site
EU 7FP Newsletter: The Research Council of Norway (NRC), which is sponsoring the Shadow Group, publishes newsletters with information related to energy research within the EU 7FP (The EU 7th Framework Programme on research). Please contact Beate Kristiansen at NRC (email:bki(at)rcn.no) to submit to the newsletter.

Contact information

If you need more information about ZEP, the Shadow Ground, or CCS in general, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Bellona’s CCS expert Gøril Tjetland can be contacted by email, to goril(at)bellona.no, or telephone +47 23 23 46 00.

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