Innovation Fund - Project Development Assistance

Country: Croatia
Sector: Cement & Lime
Project promoter: NEXE d.d.

The CO2NTESSA project foresees modification of the clinker production process based on the second-generation Oxyfuel technology, the most cost-effective long-term solution for the complete elimination of CO2 emissions. The technology that will be implemented in the plant through this project focuses on capturing the CO2 at the source of origin unlike most of the other technologies that operate only at the end of production process, while the innovation of the project enables greater cost efficiency compared to other CO2 capture technologies.  The CO2NTESSA project will allow the capture of more than 650,000 t CO2/year (capturing 100% of CO₂ from production process), making cement production at NEXE close to zero emissions. Moreover, the CO2NTESSA project will unlock the potential for NEXE to become the first negative emitter of CO2 in the EU because of use of alternative fuels.

It is one of the largest planned investments in industry in Croatia that is included in the List of Strategic Investment Projects of the Republic of Croatia. CO2NTESSA is one of the few projects in the EU that has an efficient solution for the disposal of captured CO₂ with a transport pipeline to the Bockovci-1 location, where CO₂ will be injected into the deposit-saline aquifer. The CO2NTESSA project will enable synergy with GT CCS Croatia project coordinated by the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency. This includes the renovation of the existing commissioned pipeline for the transport of the captured CO2 from the NEXE cement factory and the construction of the CO2 storage infrastructure. It has the potential to become a regional hub for CO2 management and an important milestone in the development of carbon capture and storage in Croatia and beyond.

In addition, the project is aligned with the strategic documents of the European Union and the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, its contribution to achieving the goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Green Plan, and the contribution of the project to the Low Carbon Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia until 2030 with a view to 2050 and the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia until 2030 is expected.

Country: Denmark
Sector: Refineries
Project promoter: European Energy A/S

GreenWave will critically contribute to decarbonizing the shipping sector by developing and implementing innovative technologies to provide sustainable e-Methanol, a carbon-neutral fuel with low implementation barrier. The e-methanol will be produced entirely from green hydrogen and biogenic CO₂ utilizing own additional renewable energy (RE). GreenWave will establish the technical and commercial platform to scale production internationally.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund call 2023 after its re-application.

Country: France
Sector: Wind energy, use of renewable energy outside Annex I of the EU ETS Directive, Hydrogen
Project promoter: COMPAGNIE DU PONANT

PONANT is committed to strongly reduce the carbon emission of its expedition cruise activities and is studying the design of a vessel capable of achieving a greenhouse gas balance in operation close to zero. The challenge is to find which ship size, which technologies, which energies can be integrated into a ship to achieve the 2050 carbon neutrality target by 2030, having in mind the 30 years lifetime of those vessels.

The Swap2Zero project (S2Z), with its multi-energy and eco-design model, attempts to bring this a response with the design of a ship based on 3 main pillars: energy sobriety, energy efficiency and the optimized use of renewable energies like wind, solar and low carbon fuels. This is a concrete project integrating several technologies within one vessel, offering a practical case for implementing new regulations with the joint participation of the classification society, flag administration and several partners, suppliers, and design offices.

The S2Z project will be a transoceanic sailing cruise vessel, with one month of autonomy, optimized to reach 50% of wind contribution in the propulsion energy mix, powered by fuel cells using hydrogen and bio or e-methane, and introducing a preliminary step into an innovative carbon capture and storage system. The complexity of this design is also coming from the obligation to demonstrate the compliancy with Safe-Return-To-Port rules applicable to passenger vessels. This vessel should demonstrate the feasibility of an operational profile without any diesel generator connected on the grid thanks to an advanced power management system to control all energies flows coming from the various converters and an innovative distribution network.

Other important aspects of this S2Z project are to contribute into a growing competence of all parties on all those problematics and progress jointly to find proper solutions and to contribute to the development of the production and supply chain of new energies like RFNBO fuels.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund call 2023 after its re-application.

Country: Portugal
Sector: Hydro/Ocean Energy
Project promoter: CORPOWER OCEAN AB

Global electricity demand is set to double by 2050, underscoring the challenge of achieving 24/7 Carbon Free Energy (CFE) cost-effectively. Solar photovoltaics (PV), wind and storage are essential but insufficient alone. Wave energy, overcoming historical technical challenges, now plays a crucial role in a balanced, cost-effective energy mix. Over the past decade, CorPower's five-stage development introduced efficient wave energy technology. The HiWave-5 project in Portugal showcases the first full-scale Wave Energy Converter (WEC) connected to the grid. The VianaWave project aims at developing a 10 MW pre-commercial wave farm as an extension of the HiWvave-5 installation, taking advantage of the operational infrastructure and existing marine license (TUPEM).

VianaWave project's goal is to validate the CorPack wave cluster concept, demonstrating how wave energy can contribute to a 100% CFE mix at low cost. This initiative aligns with the clean energy ambitions of industrial off-takers in the region, aiming for 24/7 Carbon Free Energy (CFE) and improved hourly matching of clean electricity supply with demand. The wave farm is planned to be operational in 2028/29 and is expected to save up to 46,612 tCO2e after 10 years of operation, feeding a total of 287,680 MWh of renewable electricity into the Portuguese grid.

Country: Belgium
Sector: Chemicals
Project promoter: TripleW BV

TripleW has developed a completely new, highly innovative process to transform food waste into lactic acid (LA), which hence does not require sugar-rich crops nor lime, and produces less by-products (and associated emissions), compared to the state-of-the-art process, including no gypsum by-product. Moreover, since the raw material input is limited to food waste, the product can be produced locally in the European Union, as it easily fits in the existing waste management valorisation value chain. The output is lactic acid, and the by-products are:

• feedstock to an anaerobic digestion to produce renewable energy for the lactic acid production process, and
• an organic fertilizer in an aerobic process.

The overall objective is to put in place a first-of-its-kind pilot facility which converts food waste to LA, the building block of polyactic acid (PLA). This plant uses pre-existing food waste streams as input for the production process, as such the carbon in the feed is converted into lactic acid, renewable energy and organic fertilizer, which yields a significant net reduction of CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere. Additionally, the by-products produced during the production process can be used to produce biogas and renewable electricity, adding towards the ambition of maximally reducing CO₂ emissions.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund call 2023 after its re-application.

Country: Norway
Sector: Manufacturing of components for production of renewable energy
Project promoter: Olvondo Technology AS

Olvondo Technology will build a modern, efficient manufacturing plant for assembly of a unique, beyond state-of-the-art industrial HighLift heat pump to replace fossil fuel-fired boilers, recovering waste-heat, and improve the energy efficiency of the European industry.

Country: Denmark
Sector: Hydrogen
Project promoter: H2 Energy Esbjerg ApS

The Njordkraft project (formerly Spedla), is a large-scale green hydrogen facility by H2 Energy Europe located in Esbjerg, Denmark. This project involves establishing a 1 GW green hydrogen production facility, utilising electricity from the grid to produce an estimated 90,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually.

The project is set to be a core distributor of hydrogen to Denmark and Germany and a driver for investments in hydrogen infrastructure. A cost-efficient midstream process through pipelines will allow wider distribution and use of hydrogen for industrial processes and on-road and maritime transportation at prices competitive with fossil fuel energy carriers.

Scheduled for full commissioning in 2028, the project is expected to generate substantial benefits, including the creation of approximately 60 permanent jobs. The plant will have a circular economy approach by using sewage water as a feedstock and feeding its surplus heat from the electrolyser into the Esbjerg district heating system.

Country: Poland
Sector: Glass, ceramics & construction material
Project promoter: FIBRAIN SPOLKA Z ORGANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCI

The HyFibre project will create a first-of-a-kind, commercial-scale, sustainable optic glass fibre preform production using renewable hydrogen in Głogów Małopolski, Poland.

Optic glass fibre preform is a commercial product that is used to manufacture glass fibre optics and glass fibre optic cables, which are widely used in power generation, telecommunications and other industries.

By combining proven technologies in new innovative ways and integrating those into an optic glass fibre preform production, FIBRAIN will be the first optic glass fibre preform producer to use this integrated production concept and the first optic glass fibre preform producer to replace all fossil derived hydrogen and natural gas for its European production with sustainable hydrogen and energy efficiently produced on-site thus offering sustainable and affordable products downstream in the value chain.

Country: Belgium
Sector: Iron & Steel
Project promoter: ArcelorMittal Belgium

The Calisto project (Carbon dioxide liquefaction for storage) is an add-on to the Steelanol project. The Steelanol project was funded by the Horizon 2020 program in 2015 and produces bioethanol using as feedstock the steel mill gases of the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Ghent.

The Calisto project takes a side stream from Steelanol and captures the CO₂, followed by a cleaning and liquefaction. The high-quality liquid CO₂ goes partly to the local market for industrial use, while the majority of the volume is being transported (by ship or subsea pipeline) and sequestrated.

The Calisto project is special, as it captures CO₂ from steel mill gases that have typically high levels of numerous contaminants, and transforms it into high quality liquid CO₂, ready for industrial use or sequestration.

For this project, ArcelorMittal Belgium and Nippon Gases Belgium have joined forces for the design and realization of the project. The project will be constructed on the premises of the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Ghent, Belgium and should start production at the end of 2029.

Country: Italy
Sector: Chemicals, Iron & Steel
Project promoter: Marcegaglia Ravenna SpA

Marcegaglia AdriatiCO₂ project will tangibly contribute to the reduction of the emissions of Marcegaglia main steel metallurgy plant through the deployment of CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage). In addition, Marcegaglia AdriatiCO2 project will also feature a high degree of innovation, being the first project in Italy and Southern Europe deploying BECCS (Bio Energy Carbon Capture and Storage), thus resulting in a net reduction of CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere.

The biogenic carbon dioxide will be captured from two emission points within Marcegaglia Ravenna facility:

• The co-generator, that supplies both electrical and thermal energy to the industrial site, where natural gas will be partly substituted with biomethane; and
• The Green DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) facility, where biochar will be used as chemical agent to produce Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) through a groundbreaking technology, utilised for the first time in a commercial facility globally.

This innovative two-folded application of BECCS will significantly amplify the CCS plant's impact, pushing beyond carbon neutrality towards a net carbon negative footprint.

In addition, the modular and easily scalable nature of the Green DRI process (I-Smelt) may allow the offsetting of other emissions of Marcegaglia Ravenna plant with low CO₂ percentages that are “hard to abate.”

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund call 2023 after its re-application.

Country: France
Sector: Renewable Energy, Hydro/Ocean energy
Project promoter: Normandie Hydroliennes

The project “NH1” will deliver a 4-turbine, 12 MW tidal stream pilot off the coast of France in the Raz Blanchard tidal race.

The NH1 turbines will be the largest in the world, capable of generating an annual yield of 33.9 GWh from a 100% predictable tidal flow resource. Whilst this record-breaking array is a leap forward for the tidal industry, the fundamental objective of this project is to demonstrate a significant reduction in the cost of energy (LCoE) and a pathway to competitiveness with more established, but still intermittent, forms of renewable energy such as wind and solar. 

By blending innovation with a proven turbine architecture, the project predicts a cost reduction from the present state-of-the-art array of 40%. This saving increases to 65% at full commercial scale. NH1 is at a very mature stage of development and will deliver this LCoE reduction through the following enhancements and innovations: increasing rotor size and efficiency, optimising power rating, utilising lower impact foundations, requiring fewer subsea cables and power converters, and operating turbines in clusters with smart control. By applying these system innovations to a core turbine design that has already demonstrated performance and reliability, the NH1 project can achieve its goals without having to take unnecessary risks.

Furthermore, delivery of this project will prepare the local supply chain for larger-scale arrays and will create a strong European manufacturing base for both local and global markets. By drawing on its unrivalled experience in design and construction of tidal projects, NH1’s team will deliver, through innovation, a pathway to commercially viable tidal energy. Only by realising this objective, the first 2.5GW of capacity in France by 2042 can be unlocked paving the way for the global commercialisation of tidal power.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund call 2023 after its re-application.

Country: Netherlands
Sector: Manufacturing
Project promoter: Battolyser B.V.

The project objective is to construct a 1GW/year electrolyser manufacturing plant in the hydrogen hub of the Port of Rotterdam, that serves as an industrial base for the first commercialisation of the Battolyser® technology. The Battolyser® is a breakthrough innovative technology that combines the benefits of both an electrolyser and a battery to produce the lowest-cost hydrogen.

The Battolyser® technology has the potential to play a critical role in the EU's energy transition producing clean affordable hydrogen for industry and mobility. Battolyser® offers a flexible electrolyser technology that can be quickly turned on or off depending on the availability of green electricity. Furthermore, it uses only scalable metals like low-grade nickel and iron. The technology improves on the current state of the art in the EU improving on alkaline electrolysers in terms of flexibility, scalability, and efficiency. The project is led by an experienced leadership team, with extensive technical, commercial and operational expertise.

The technology will contribute to the climate neutrality goals set by the EU by 1) lowering LCOH by achieving higher conversion efficiency and avoiding extreme electricity prices, so clean hydrogen is delivered at the lowest cost by 2025, 2) reducing the reliance on raw materials, 3) developing sufficient talent, especially given the increasing demand for electrolysers worldwide as countries transition to sustainable energy, 4) upscaling a fully EU-based supply chain, which will impact the GDP positively, 5) building a product that can compete on a global level and therewith increase export revenues for the EU.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund call 2023 after its re-application.

Country: Netherlands
Sector: Chemicals
Project promoter: OCI N.V.

Project GasifHy aims to construct the world’s largest gasification to methanol plant. The plant will be capable of processing a combination of non-recyclable municipal solid waste, biomass waste and renewable hydrogen to produce sustainable methanol. The injection of renewable hydrogen allows the recovery all the carbon present in the waste, maximising methanol production and minimise emissions.

The project will be a catalyst for further decarbonisation by consuming significant amounts of renewable H2 and improving the business cases for large scale electrolysers deployment and H2 infrastructure projects in the region.

This is the first industrial scale production of methanol that will satisfy REDII requirements for advanced biofuel, RCF and RFNBO, giving supply security for downstream customers like ship owners in Europe to convert their fleet to sustainable fuels.

The success of GasifHy will provide a blueprint for large scale gasifier to chemical production, enabling a move away from primary fossil feedstocks, towards a circular economy. OCI is currently one of the top methanol producers and traders globally and is the largest bio-methanol producer. They have extensive business development, sales and logistics capabilities to supply sustainable methanol to end customers.

GasifHy will replace a fossil-based steam methane reformer at its BioMCN plant, located in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, with a gasifier island to feed into existing methanol production and logistic infrastructure, effectively utilising existing valuable assets. The project is innovative in linking a waste gasification scheme into chemical manufacturing.

Country: Sweden, Italy, France, Spain
Sector: Chemicals
Project promoter: Cuibhil Luxco 2

Globally, it is estimated that over 1 billion tyres reach the end of their useful lives every year, and about 4 billion End-of-Life Tires (ELT) are currently in landfills and stockpiles worldwide. By facilitating the introduction of fully sustainable tyres across the European Union, Antin Ifrastructure Partners, Scandinavian Enviro Systems and Michelin take part in tackling the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission problem associated with ELTs management.

The INFINITERIA initiative (project’s former name - TIRE) aims to develop, an innovative patent-based pyrolysis tyre recovery processing route - carbonisation by forced convection (CFC), that has never been tried or demonstrated to date at large industrial scale. The INFINITERIA project will thus allow for the production, under cost-optimised and environment friendly conditions, of high-grade pyrolysis oil (TPO), as well as recycled carbon black (rCB) and steel, that will be reused in the manufacturing of new sustainable tyres, biofuels and other market applications.

This innovative recovery processing route will involve ENVIRO’s specific knowledge and know-how (three patents) and will lead to the creation of network of recycling plants, based on the first successful demonstrator exploited in Asensbruk - Sweden by ENVIRO since 2013, across Europe with the target of reaching 1 million Tonnes/year of processing capacity by 2030.

INFINITERIA will generate significant direct employment as well as indirect employment in the ELT recycling sector as part of the initiative across the EU and worldwide.

Country: Germany
Sector: Electrification, renewable heating and cooling
Project promoter: DREWAG Stadtwerke Dresden GmbH, a company of the SachsenEnergie group

The DISG project is located in the city of Dresden, a participant in the EU Mission 100 Climate Neutral Cities (100CNC), with the ambitious goal to reach climate neutrality by 2030.

DREWAG Stadtwerke Dresden GmbH, a company of the SachsenEnergie AG-group, is the responsible entity for the district heating system of Dresden, by being:

• contracting party to the concession agreement with the municipality of Dresden,
• owner and operator of the district heating grid in Dresden of 630 kilometres and several smaller heating grids in the region.

To decarbonise the heating sector, DREWAG is elaborating several options for new constructions to increase RES-share of Dresden’s heat generation from < 5% to 100%.

The scope of the DISG project is to replace natural gas-based heat production with large-scale heat pumps to feed thermal energy into the district heating grid of Dresden. To achieve a significant change, sufficiently large and controllable heat generation facilities have to be integrated into the overall district heating system. Therefore, DISG consists of three different sub-projects with slightly different characteristics, innovative solutions and scope. The systemic combination of the 3 sub-projects forms a flexible and sufficiently large heat pump park that is capable of decarbonising a district heating network significantly by avoiding GHG over the 10 years of about 550 ktCO2e.

Depending on several boundary conditions we aim to install three different types of heat pumps: 

• at the river of Elbe (up to 50 MWth)
• at the river of Weißeritz (5 MWth), and a
• sewage water heat pump (3,2 MWth)

The project results are expected to be highly replicable in other European cities, which will have an enormous impact in terms of local heat production related emissions.

Country: France
Sector: Pulp and paper
Project promoter: Wepa Greenfield

Greenfield Biogaz is an industrial-scale anaerobic digestion project designed to decarbonize the de-inked pulp and paper production plant of Wepa Greenfield in Chateau-Thierry, France.

Through a circular economy approach, the project uses currently disposed de-inking sludge, a by-product of the de-inking process at the waste-paper recycling factory, as its sole input.

The onsite recovery of de-inking sludge produces 83 GWh/a of biogas for self-consumption, thereby reducing the site's natural gas consumption by over 70% and avoiding the emission of more than 15,000 tCO2e annually. Additionally, this process significantly reduces waste production at the site.

This project is the first of its kind, as there is no existing methanization unit utilizing de-inking paper sludge in a mono-digestion.

Developed in partnership with PlanET, this unique project has the potential to be replicated at other pulp and paper mill sites seeking to recover energy from their de-inking waste sludge and significantly improve their carbon footprint.

Country: Spain
Sector: Non-ferrous metals
Project promoter: Cobre Las Cruces, S.A.

The Poly-Metallurgical Refinery (PMR) project is the scale up of a disruptive, first-of-a-kind hydrometallurgical process, based on the SICAL (Silver Catalysed Atmospheric Leaching) technology, that allows to recover, from poor ore concentrates or with high impurities, four metals in the same plant instead of only one. PMR is unique, since so far, it has not been viable to produce global or polymetallic concentrates in the Iberian Pyrite Belt or in any other mine in the world, as there is no "poly-metallic" refinery capable of processing such concentrates, but only "mono-metallic" ones.

Through the PMR project, Cobre Las Cruces (CLC) introduces a game changing, highly replicable innovation for the non-ferrous metal refinery sector. The novel PMR plant will be able to treat in situ polymetallic sulphide ores or global concentrate with low grades to efficiently recover Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb) and Silver (Ag). Thus, PMR introduces the concept of “from Mine to Metal” in the mining industry, bringing major environmental and economic benefits while substantially contributing to sustainable processing of critical raw materials, strengthening resilience of industrial value chains in the EU.

Country: Norway
Sector: Hydrogen
Project promoter: HYSTAR AS

With Project Sagitta (Scalable Automated Gigawatt Initiative for Technology That Accelerates decarbonization), the Norwegian company Hystar AS will install and operate a fully automated production line for PEM (Proton exchange membrane) electrolyser stacks in Høvik, Norway.

The factory will be designed around the Industry 5.0 principles, securing a sustainable, resilient and human centric production of the world’s most efficient PEM Elctrolyser. Hystar is an innovative spin-off from SINTEF, one of Europe’s largest independent research organizations.

The Hystar stack is two to five times smaller than current PEM solutions, leading to a drastic reduction of critical raw materials use in its production. Furthermore, the stack is more efficient than its competition, leading to large electricity savings for the end user. Because the Hystar stack has been designed using fuel cell technology design principles and requires a far smaller production footprint than its competitors, it can also be mass-produced and has enormous scalability potential.

Hystar has a fast-growing diverse team, consisting of 62 passionate people from 29 nationalities, developing game-changing PEM electrolysers. The company’s ambition is to become the world’s preferred electrolyser Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for large-scale hydrogen production projects by 2030.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund call 2023 after its re-application.

Country: Germany
Sector: Wind energy
Project promoter: Voodin Blade Technology GmbH

Voodin Blade Technology GmbH (VBT) is at the forefront of innovation with the Voodin Blade First Factory (VB1F) project, pioneering the development and production of wooden wind turbine blades. These blades are set to be a game changer, offering a sustainable alternative to the traditional fossil-based fibreglass-reinforced polyester or epoxy materials while delivering comparable performance. This marks a significant advancement in the life cycle management of wind energy production.

Country: Norway
Sector: Hydrogen
Project promoter: GEN2 ENERGY AS

Gen2 Energy is a green hydrogen pure player dedicated to develop, build, own and distribute its products through integrated value chains. The company's strategy is to develop and operate a various and complementary portfolio of hydrogen (and derivatives) production sites combined with innovative and integrated logistics solutions to deliver its products to ports and train terminals to address industry and mobility markets.

With the development of the GH2EU project (former project name: G2E), the first project of its portfolio, Gen2 will design, develop and operate a 100-MW electrolysis hydrogen production plant starting production in 2027 and targeting an average of 17 715 tons of hydrogen per annum over the 25-year project lifetime. The GH2EU will deploy a RED II compliant, holistic, adaptable, and large-scale hydrogen value chain.

Country: Spain
Sector: Refineries
Project promoters:
Iberdrola Clientes S.A.U. (ES)
Foresa Industrias Químicas del Noroeste S.A. (ES)

Located in Galicia, MEIGA project is conceived as a door-opener that will deploy innovative integrated technological approaches clustered in a unique integrated plant, based on:

• an innovative hybridised H2 production system comprising Alkaline, PEM, SOEC and Co-SOEC systems,
• an advanced CO2-capture system integrating chemical based and direct air capture technologies; and
• an integrated self-sustainable e-methanol production system (considering electrolyser waste heat use as well as oxygen use and water circularity in the overall facility).

These approaches will allow materialising three highly competitive outcomes, establishing a new paradigm in the sector: enhanced production performance, improved operational flexibility and competitive production costs.

The operational capacity of the e-methanol production plant will be of 100 000 tons of e-methanol per year, avoiding more than two million tCO2e in 10 years. The selected location is a representative scenario, being the first milestone of an ambitious plan to replicate the concept in 11 sites. Iberdrola Clientes S.A.U and Foresa Industrias químicas del Noroeste S.A. will count on their vast experience in engineering projects, which, coupled with the technical, financial (cost-attractive business model) and operational (market deployment) maturity of the technology, will ensure its success.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund third large-scale call after its re-application under the name GREEN MEIGA.

Country: Spain
Sector: Glass, ceramics & construction material
Project promoter: Cosentino Industrial SAU (ES)

LessCO Surfaces are a new generation of Low-Emission Construction surfaces obtained through ‘Circular Technology Quarry’ for a more sustainable European raw materials industry.

The main objective of the project is to implement a disruptive manufacturing plant, the so-called ’Circular Technology Quarry’, designed with the main objective of producing new circular raw materials from more efficient waste valorisation processes.

Thanks to this project, the raw materials currently used to manufacture engineered stone will be replaced by much more sustainable alternatives achieved by the upcycling of the by-products and the sludge waste generated in the production process, reducing drastically the end-product’s carbon footprint, the amount of waste generated, improving at the same time the working conditions of workers by using new and circular raw materials without the health risks associated to the current ones.

The project, the first of its kind worldwide, is expected to be replicated in other industries and sectors, which will have an enormous impact in terms of costs, emissions and health.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund call 2023 after its re-application.

Country: France
Sector: Biofuels and bio-refineries
Project promoter: Storengy, a company of ENGIE (FR)

The SALAMANDRE project aims to produce renewable and low carbon methane as an alternative fuel for the maritime sector by using local waste wood grade B and SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel) as feedstock. It responds to the challenges of maritime transport decarbonization, waste recovery and energy autonomy, while facilitating the transition towards a circular economy.

SALAMANDRE is based on a unique combination of technological innovations implemented by ENGIE with two main process bricks: pyrogasification and methanation reactors. The produced renewable and low carbon methane will be injected in the gas network and delivered into container ships as fuel, replacing fossil Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). ENGIE's objective is to make the first commercial waste-to-gas project at an industrial scale in Europe, and thus contribute to decarbonizing the gas sector.

Country: Sweden
Sector: Refineries
Project promoter: FlagshipONE AB (Ørsted A/S) (SE)

Located in Örnsköldsvik in Northern Sweden, FlagshipONE is Europe’s largest FID’ed green e-methanol facility. FlagshipONE is expected to enter into operation in 2025 and will produce around 50 000 tonnes of e-methanol each year to help decarbonise the world’s shipping industry. Global shipping accounts for around 3% of global carbon emissions, and the sector is a focus area for Ørsted, as the company expands its presence in Power-to-X across Northern Europe and the United States.

The project will be located on the grounds of the biomass-fired combined heat and power plant Hörneborgsverket in Örnsköldsvik, operated by Övik Energi. The e-methanol from FlagshipONE will be produced using renewable electricity and biogenic carbon dioxide captured from Hörneborgsverket. In addition, FlagshipONE will use steam, process water, and cooling water from Hörneborgsverket. Excess heat from the e-methanol production process will be delivered back to Övik Energi and integrated in their district heating supply.

Country: Denmark
Sector: Electrification, heat pumps
Project promoter: CP Kelco ApS (DK)

The DeFuel project will demonstrate a full decarbonisation of a fully fossil fuel dependent industrial process plant before 2029. The decarbonization will be done by implementing several innovative process integrations and electrification solutions, which will reduce the energy consumption by 70%. A full decarbonisation goes beyond both the national climate strategies and EU climate policy objectives and lifts the bar beyond state of the art for industrial process design.

The project will challenge the production and the internal/external energy infrastructure, and demonstrate how state-of-the-art technology can be combined in innovative solutions, which will challenge and set new standard for carbon efficient industrial design.

The high efficiency is achieved by a demand-driven design that combines intelligent process integration and heat pump technology in several systems that match the specific process demands.

The innovative solutions demonstrated in the DeFuel project are fully scalable and will demonstrate how a significant part of European energy intensive industry can reduce the energy consumption significantly through electrification and become independent of natural gas supplies.

Country: Norway
Sector: Manufacturing of components for production of storage
Project promoter: Freyr Battery Norway AS (NO)

The project concerns the construction and operation of a large plant for industrial scale production of clean lithium-ion (li-ion) battery cells in Norway. The cells are to be sold for making Battery Energy Storage Systems. The project seeks to implement an innovative manufacturing process technology under a technology license agreement that will allow higher resource and energy efficiency compared to conventional technologies. Using renewable power, the project aims to produce battery cells with the lowest carbon footprint. The promoter aims to use sustainably sourced and traceable materials. The project's core strategy is to develop a European battery industry and accelerate the decarbonisation of energy and transportation systems.

The project concerns the manufacturing of a new type of advanced li-ion electrodes and battery cells and could make a substantial contribution to the development of a European battery industry. The objective is to cater for the energy transition by supplying the growing demand for Battery Energy Storage Systems with cutting-edge battery cells that offer higher energy density, longer lifetime, improved safety, lower cost, sustainably sourced materials and near-zero carbon footprint.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund third large-scale call after its re-application under the name Giga Arctic.

Country: Greece
Sector: CO₂ transport & storage
Project promoter: Energean Oil and Gas, S.A. (GR)

The Prinos CCS project is a third-party open access carbon storage site located offshore in the Northern Aegean Sea, Greece (Kavala gulf area). The project aims to receive CO₂ emissions from industrial activities, including hard to abate industries,  for example cement and refining, from Greece and regions such as South Italy, West Balkans and Bulgaria. The CO₂ will be stored permanently in geological formations beneath the seabed. The Prinos CCS project has a potential storage capacity of up to 100 million tonnes of CO₂. Local CO₂ is expected to be received in compressed form, and remote CO₂ is expected to be received in liquid form through sea transport.

The project was awarded an exploration permit under Directive 2009/31/EC in September 2022 and shall be developed in stages. The first phase will have a capacity of up to one MTPA, covering own and local emissions and acting as a test operation and monitoring scheme. The Full Commercial (second) phase of the project is due to become operational in 2028. The injection capacity to be made available in the second phase shall be subject to technical feasibility and binding market demand. 

Country: Sweden, Belgium
Sector: Energy Intensive Industries, Shipping
Project promoters: 
AB DFDS Seaways (Lithuania)
DFDS A/S (Denmark)

The large-scale demonstration project will form a crucial backbone of the leading European shipping and logistic company, as DFDS Group aims to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 45-50% until 2030, compared to 2008-level, to become climate-neutral by 2050. In line with the EU Green Deal, EU Innovation Fund and future Emission Trading System (ETS) requirements, the proposed project covers the preparation, construction, and operation of four large-scale hybrid e-ammonia electric RoRo ships, that shall be established on existing intra-European freight transport routes connecting Scandinavia with mainland Europe and serve the pan-European maritime network of DFDS in the future.

The large-scale project will demonstrate the introduction of breakthrough innovative ship propulsion technology (from TRL 5 to TRL 8/9) and the regular use of advanced fuels (e-ammonia, bio-fuel) in combination with large-scale on-board electrification. The hybrid e-ammonia electric ship solutions are sufficiently mature and have significant potentials to reduce GHG emissions of maritime transport, and thereby supporting the Union’s aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, and its GHG emission reduction targets for 2030 of at least 55% compared to 1990 levels. During the 10-year monitoring period, the proposed project will avoid approximately 2.9 million tons of CO₂eq. The relevant project costs are 460 million EUR.

In course of the project implementation (start in 01/2024), with entry of full commercial operation in 01/2029, and until the proposed project’s end in 12/2038, very high scalability and cross-sector/EU-wide innovation impacts are expected, providing significant EU added values.

Country: Spain
Sector: Hydrogen
Project promoter: Repsol Renewable and Circular Solutions, S.A.

The project concerns a green hydrogen production plant with a 150 MW alkaline electrolyser and 8 tonnes hydrogen storage.

The plant is located in the Tarragona industrial area, in Spain. The plant will generate green hydrogen and oxygen to be used by local off-takers.

A battery storage system is considered in order to optimize the operation of the plant that will be supplied with electricity from the network through Power Purchase Agreements with renewable resources.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund third large-scale call after its re-application under the name T-HYNET, Tarragona Hydrogen Network.

Country: Spain
Sector: Hydrogen
Project promoter: Reganosa Asset Investments, S.L.U.

H2Pole is an industrial deployment where a 100 MW electrolysis plant will be installed. The plant, expected to be operative in early 2026, will develop a hydrogen valley in the northwest of Spain (Galicia) to attend aggregated local demand and make renewable hydrogen accessible to all users.

The aim of the project is to develop the value chain of hydrogen, providing the region with its first stable and accessible market of renewable hydrogen. The main use will consider hydrogen as energy vector to decarbonise industrial processes and in mobility sector.

The H2Pole, located in the Just Transition area of As Pontes de García Rodríguez and nearby the Port of Ferrol, will have a positive impact on economic growth of the region and a significant spillover effect in small and medium companies, acquiring experience and know-how, and creating opportunities for development of new business models and services associated to the hydrogen value chain.

The first phase of the project has been awarded with a funding from the Spanish national programme “H2 Pioneros” in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan - Funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU.

Country: France
Sector: Iron & Steel
Project promoters: 
SUEZ RV France
ArcelorMittal Méditerrannée

The Wasteel project aims to produce a combustible recovery gas by diverting waste from landfill to a valorisation process.

The proposed project replaces fossil natural gas currently used to heat steel to high temperatures, in the ArcelorMittal’s steel plant of Fos-sur-Mer, by purified syngas produced from Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).

Wasteel involves a gasification technology producing syngas from local waste prepared under the form of RDF. The syngas is cleaned and purified by dedicated process steps to match ArcelorMittal specification and ensure a safe combustion.

Country: Finland
Sector: Chemicals
Project promoter: Infinited Fiber Company OY

Finnish Infinited Fiber Company’s patented cellulose carbamate technology transforms cotton-rich textile waste otherwise destined to landfills or incinerators into new, virgin-quality textile fibers called Infinna™. Scientifically known as cellulose carbamate fiber, Infinna™ is a high-quality, circular alternative to conventional fibers like cotton, viscose and polyester. Produced through responsible, MRSL ZDHC compliant chemistry, Infinna™ is recyclable, biodegradable and contains no microplastics.

Infinited Fiber Company aims with the project FinFiber to scale its groundbreaking textile-to-textile recycling technology to industrial level and build the first commercial-scale Infinna™ fiber factory in Kemi, Northern Finland. The factory will have an annual production capacity of 30 000 metric tons of Infinna™ and create 270 direct jobs in the Kemi area. The majority of the future factory´s production capacity has already been sold for several years ahead to leading fashion and apparel brands. The FinFiber project accelerates textile circularity and is in line with the objectives of the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles.

Currently, there are no other commercial chemical recycling solutions available allowing for large-scale conversion of 100% textile waste feedstock directly into textile fibers within the same process, as most of the other solutions in the market are either unable to utilise 100% textile waste as raw material or produce an intermediate pulp, which needs to be subsequently processed into fibers in a separate process.

Country: Estonia
Sector: Cement & Lime
Project promoter: R-S OSA Service OÜ

Estonia-based Ragn-Sells have developed an innovative solution to turn deposited oil shale ash into ultra-pure calcium carbonate, while simultaneously capturing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the material. 

The first-of-a-kind plant will be constructed in Ida-Viru county, Estonia, and will have an annual capacity of 530 000 tons of novel calcium carbonate, capturing and avoiding over 260 000 tons of CO₂ per year. By utilising the waste and using CO₂ as raw material, the project will contribute to the production of green raw materials while also removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.

The technology, which was developed by Ragn-Sells, TalTech and The University of Tartu, incorporates the principle of circularity and zero waste. The plant does not emit exhaust gases since there is no combustion process, while the water used is in constant circulation and all by-products are recovered to create new products.

Country: Italy
Sector: Energy storage
Project promoters:
A2A Spa
Energy Dome SPA

The project CO₂ Battery concerns a standard commercial utility-scale storage plant based on a CO₂ thermodynamic cycle (during charging, CO₂ is stored as a liquid; when energy is needed, the CO₂ warms up, evaporates and expands to drive a turbine and generate electricity).

The plant will be built in Italy and will have a capacity of about 18 MW and 200 MWh. The plant aims at providing services to the Italian transmission System Operator and participating in the electricity wholesale market.

Country: Portugal
Sector: Solar energy
Project promoter: Hyperion Energy Investments SGPS SA (PT)

The BHyPER Community project is a hydrogen production plant that aims to produce green hydrogen through an electrolysis process fed from a renewable and non-polluting source (solar energy). The project will contribute to the Portuguese targets for the gradual introduction of green hydrogen in the various aspects of the Portuguese economy, making it a sustainable and integrated pillar of the National Hydrogen Strategy “EN-H2”.

The project will be the first of its kind in Portugal, delivering green hydrogen and electricity to the local economy, while offering flexibility to the electricity network through the provision of reserves power.

Country: Spain
Sector: Intra-day electricity storage
Project promoters:
Malta Iberia Pumped Heat Electricity Storage S.L.U. (ES)
Alfa Laval Corporate AB (SE)
Siemens Gas and Power GmbH & Co. KG (DE)

The Sun2Store project develops, implements and operates an innovative pumped heat electricity storage system of 100 MWe net AC discharge power with 10 hours capacity. The storage system stores on a daily basis solar PV electricity during solar surplus hours and feeds this stored electricity back to the grid as required for covering the residual load curve to avoid renewable energy curtailment.

The storage innovation consists in combining novel heat pump technology with molten salt thermal storage, well proven in Spanish concentrating solar power plants, and thus making this long duration utility scale storage technology competitively applicable for solar PV and wind power generators. Beside its cost advantage compared to other existing technologies, such as battery storage, the benefits of the pumped heat electricity storage for the grid include the ability to provide dispatchable reserve power with rotating turbine equipment, fast ramping, reactive power and synchronous inertia.

The storage solution would be the first of its kind in Europe. 

Country: France
Sector: Wind energy
Project promoter: Chantiers de l'Atlantique (FR)

Chantiers de l’Atlantique, the largest shipyard in Europe and a leader in energy and environment efficiencies through its dedicated Ecorizon® R&D Programme, has developed a large sailing cruise ship concept featuring an innovating wind propulsion technology. This new system, consisting of large sails in composite panels mounted on a 80 meters-tall rig, will allow cruise vessels to reduce their GHG emissions up to 45%, compared to similar conventional ships. It will also be transferable to other kinds of large ships, such as bunker vessels and tankers.

The WAVE (Wind Assisted VEssels) project aims to deploy on the market the first ship applications of this wind propulsion concept by 2024-2025.

Country: Czech Republic
Sector: Intra-day electricity storage
Project promoters:
Gravitricity Ltd (UK)
Huisman Equipment B.V (NL)
ILF Consulting Engineers Austria GmbH (AT)
Frank Bold s.r.o (CZ)
Viridicore s.r.o (CZ)
Institute of Geonics of the CAS (CZ)
RAG Mining Solutions GmbH (DE)
GA Energo s.r.o. (CZ)

The GraviSTORE project comprises a gravity-based electrical energy storage system and focuses on the deployment of a prototype in the Moravian Silesian Region of the Czech Republic.

This first of its kind project will utilise Gravitricity’s highly innovative Multi MW technology to operate at grid scale, storing and releasing energy by raising and lowering solid weights within a disused mineshaft.

The acquired learning and knowledge building will pave the way for future commercial roll-out of the technology, which has exceptional cyclability and offers significant circular economy benefits through the re-use of closing mine infrastructure.

Country: France
Sector: Other energy storage
Project promoter: ARKEMA FRANCE SA (FR)

Arkema’s LION Project aims to develop and upscale an innovative production process that allows the cost-optimised and environmentally friendly production of an ultra-pure electrolyte salt. It will improve batteries’ safety and fit perfectly with high voltages and fast charge batteries within either the present or future battery technologies.

Lion project is part of the IPCEI Batteries and participates in establishing a complete innovative and competitive battery value chain within the EU.

Country: Germany
Sector: Energy storage
Project promoter: Black Magic GmbH (DE)

Black Magic GmbH is the only producer of Curved Graphene globally. Curved Graphene is a form of carbon used to achieve remarkably high energy density in energy storage technology, outperforming current batteries in many parameters.

The CESAR-E project, will develop and upscale Curved Graphene synthesis production technology for cost reduction and thus widen the field of application. The broader market penetration of Curved Graphene will lead to an expected cost reduction and to significant GHG emissions savings, especially in the automotive sector, through reducing fuel consumption in hybrid vehicles and increasing battery life in electric vehicles. 

Country: Netherlands
Sector: Energy-intensive industries
Project promoter: InSus B.V. (NL)

The project plans to construct a large-scale recycling plant to recover (H)CFC’s and propane propellants from rigid polyurethane foam. These propellants were historically used as blowing agents for rigid polyurethane foam insulation and (H)CFC’s are extremely strong greenhouse gases. The (H)CFC propellants are rendered harmless in this process and the pentane propellant is recovered for reuse. The process also recovers the foam for reuse.

The project development assistance (PDA) scope will be a market study to identify the business potential of deploying this technology across the 27 EU Member States. The objective of the PDA will be to increase the maturity of the project by establishing the current and future market potential.

Country: Spain
Sector: Chemicals
Project promoter: Forestal del Atlántico, S.A. (ES)

TRISKELION, located in the Northeast of Spain (Mugardos, Galicia) is an innovative renewable methanol manufacturing project that combines and integrates different technologies at industrial scale: CO₂ Capture through an amine-based absorption-desorption system in an existing cogeneration; Alkaline electrolysis, powered by electrical energy provided by a wind farm connected in a virtual system; Synthesis of methanol, carried out in a single reactor using Cu-ZnO base catalysts, and distillation of methanol.

The aim is to obtain a final product with a quality similar to that of fossil methanol which will allow the use of existing logistics chain and industrial facilities currently used for fossil methanol.

The project has been pre-selected for receiving a grant under the Innovation Fund third large-scale call after its re-application.

Country: Norway
Sector: Refineries
Project promoters:
Norsk e-Fuel AS (NO)
Paul Wurth S.A. (LU)
Valinor AS (NO)
Sunfire GmbH (DE)
Climeworks AG (CH)

NEF, located in Norway and led by Norsk e-Fuel AS, industrialises the world’s first-of-a-kind large-scale Power-to-Liquid (PtL) process, integrating efficient conversion technologies to produce renewable jet fuel (e-Fuel) from 100% renewable electricity, water and CO₂. The multi-step process will include:

• CO₂ capture via direct air capture (DAC)
• Syngas production
• Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis to produce the renewable fuel
• product upgrading to maximise the jet fuel fraction within the product stream

The plant is based on alkaline electrolysis and Reverse-Water-Gas-Shift reactors, and integrating high temperature co-electrolysis based on solid oxide electrolyser cell technology – Co-SOEC. The project will reach a relative GHG emission avoidance of 99%.

Country: Italy
Sector: Biofuels and bio-refineries
Project promoter: VERSALIS S.P.A. (IT)

ETHOS objectives are the design, construction and operation of innovative units for onsite cellulolytic enzyme manufacturing and high-quality lignin production in an integrated large scale 2nd generation cellulosic bioethanol demonstration plant in Crescentino (Vercelli, Italy) with Versalis’ proprietary technology, capable of converting lignocellulosic biomass from forestry residues into bioethanol for the biofuel sector and high-quality lignin co-product suitable for bio-based composite plastics.

ETHOS will create a new bio-circular business model obtained from the simultaneous production of a 2nd generation advanced biofuel (bioethanol) and an advanced biopolymer (lignin), able to substitute fossil derivatives in relevant fuels and plastics markets, contributing significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions.

Country: Netherlands, Germany, Italy
Sector: Energy storage
Project promoter: Equigy B.V. (NL)

Equigy aims to play a key role in accelerating the energy transition and integrating the energy system. With its European crowd balancing platform, Equigy’s objective is to create a trusted data exchange to allow aggregators to participate with smaller flexibility devices, such as home batteries and electric vehicles, in electricity balancing markets, turning consumers into prosumers.

Equigy submitted a proposal to the Innovation Fund on October 2020, seeking a grant to develop key functionalities that would boost growth and lower the barriers for Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and market parties to adopt the Crowd Balancing Platform (CBP) across Europe.

Owned by five leading European transmission system operators, Equigy aims to set cross-industry standards throughout Europe, to support a future-proof, reliable and cost-effective power system that is independent of fossil fuel-based flexibility sources.

Download the market analysis on the relevance of Equigy’s Crowd Balancing Platform

Country: Germany
Sector: Energy intensive industries
Project promoters:
AtlasInvest Holding (BE)
Tree Energy Solutions (BE)

TES (Tree Energy Solutions) is a green and clean hydrogen company that supplies long-term non-intermittent carbon neutral energy at industrial scale. TES’s prime objective is to replace the fossil gas system by importing green gas (CH₄) produced using green hydrogen generated from solar photovoltaics in the solar belt, as well as to introduce CO₂ circularity. In Wilhelmshaven, TES is building Germany's first Green Energy Hub, which will enable the import of 250 TWh of green gas by 2045. The Green Energy Hub will also incorporate the installation of a FOAK Oxy-combustion power plant (GREENBPP project) combined with an integrated CCS chain (Carbon Capture and Storage). It will be deployed at full industrial scale (550 MWth/284 MWe) aiming to avoid 8.6 million tons of CO₂ over 10 years at full capacity. TES is a private Belgian company, backed up by the investment company AtlasInvest.

Countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom
Sector: Hydrogen, shipping
Project promoters:
DFDS AS (DK)
Hexagon Composites ASA (NO)
ABB Ltd. (SE)
Ballard Power Systems Inc. (DK)
Lloyd's Register Group Services Limited (UK)
Knud E. Hansen (DK)
Ørsted (DK)
Danish Ship Finance (DK)

The HYDROGEN EU-ROPAX project aims at designing and constructing a Hydrogen FuelCell powered ROPAX vessel connecting main EU ports.

Current vessels of this size run on traditional marine fossil fuel. In line with the EU Green Deal and Innovation Fund, the zero-emission vessel powered by a large-scale fuel cell system (23 MW) will exclusively use green hydrogen from renewable sources, allowing for a 100% GHG emission avoidance compared to the state of play.

Beside the technical design and construction, the project will also analyse and develop financial models and hydrogen-sourcing strategies for the implementation of large-scale Hydrogen powered ROPAX vessels.

Over the 10 year monitoring period, the project/vessel will avoid more than 600 000 tons of CO₂e.

Country: Spain
Sector: Hydrogen
Project promoters:
SUNRGYZE S.L. (ES)
REPSOL SA (ES)
ENAGÁS S.A. (ES)

SUN2HY project, the first-of-a-kind large-scale plant based on photo-electro-catalytic technology for hydrogen production, is focused on demonstrating the cost-effectiveness and robustness of the photo-electrochemical (PEC) technology.

The novelty behind PEC technology lies in the capacity to directly convert solar energy to chemical energy, by splitting water in its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, thanks to the direct use of solar energy without external energy input, providing a sustainable alternative route for hydrogen.

The large industrial implementation of the technology would reduce significantly the cost per kg of green hydrogen being competitive versus the conventional process (SMR – Steam Methane Reformer) and bringing the reduction of the carbon footprint of hydrogen production. The aim of this project is to demonstrate the first PEC pre-commercial plant in the world with a production capacity of 3 650 t H₂/year. During 20 years of operation, the plant will avoid 664 067.2 t CO₂. The plant will be located close to the refinery of Repsol in Puertollano, Spain.