This will contribute to Belgium’s climate targets by decarbonising the industry through an integrated cross-border CCS value chain, in line with the objectives of the Clean Industrial Deal.
The European Commission recently approved, under EU State aid rules, a $298-million Belgian measure in favour of Air Liquide Large Industry NV and BASF Antwerpen NV for a carbon capture and storage project titled Kairos@C.
The project aims at capturing greenhouse gas emissions from the companies’ existing plants located in Antwerp that produce hydrogen, ammonia and ethylene oxide.
The project aims at capturing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the companies’ existing plants located in Antwerp that produce hydrogen, ammonia and ethylene oxide.
The carbon dioxide captured will be transported to a permanent underground storage site in the North Sea.
The project will result in avoiding around 20 million tonnes of net GHG emissions over 15 years and allow the beneficiaries to produce low-carbon hydrogen and low-carbon ammonia, a release from the Commission mentioned.
The Kairos@C project is a laureate of the first large-scale Innovation Fund call of 2020 and was awarded a grant of over €365 million. However, due to exceptional inflation over the past years and other issues, the project costs have significantly increased and as a result it could not start without additional aid.
The measure will be financed through the budget of the Flemish region. The aid will take the form of a direct investment grant of €30 million per beneficiary, which will be complemented by an additional grant that will be paid out in ten annual instalments of €10 million per beneficiary, provided that minimum GHG emission reductions are achieved.
The Commission found that the aid has an ‘incentive effect’, as the beneficiaries would not carry out the relevant investments without public support.
The measure has sufficient safeguards to ensure that undue distortions of competition are limited.
The aid does not alter the production capacity of the beneficiaries, and if the project generates extra net revenues, the beneficiaries will return to Belgium part of the aid received.
The beneficiaries will also disseminate the technical know-how gained through the project.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
