It was recently announced that eight projects received funding from the EU and five of these were CCUS projects. Now, following the 2023 call for proposals, CINEA has agreed to Grant Agreements for all of the projects which received funding.

Altogether, the EU provided an estimated EUR 600 million and this was all provided for the Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) which came from the 5th PCI list. These projects included: ARAMIS, CO2next, D’Aartagnan Phase I, Northern Lights Phase 2 Expansion and finally, Studies 4CCS Interconnector.

ARAMIs is part of the PCI 12.7 ‘Aramis – cross-border CO2 transport and storage project.’ This particular project has been awarded EUR 124 million, to help it achieve all the essential activities which are required when creating a CCUS infrastructure that will be used to help CO2 emitters in hard-to-abate industrial sectors, store their CO2 emissions. This will be particularly directed to industries based in Northwest Europe, as these companies will look to store their emissions on the Dutch continental shelf. Once this project is developed far enough, Aramis will be able to connect the CO2 collection hub to the onshore CO2 collection pipeline and to the compression hub, as well as to the offshore geological storage sites which are found on the continental shelf. This CO2 collection hub was developed by the CO2next project.

The aim for the CO2next project is create, develop, build and operate and open-access hub terminal in the Maasvlakte (Port of Rotterdam). This hub will be utilised for the reception, temporary storage and transit of liquid CO2 and it will function as a first step in establishing a value chain network or the transport and storage of CO2 within the area. This project’s connection to ARAMIS through PCI 12.7 and this project highlights the benefits it brings and it also portrays how the project is contributing to EU 2030 decarbonisation targets.

The Northern Lights Phase 2 Expansion project was awarded EUR 131 million and this project sets out to expand the capacity of the original Northern Lights initiative, from 1.5 Mtpa to more than 5 Mtpa. Plus, the project also aims to transport the captured CO2 via ship to a storage site that is located on the Norwegian continental shelf. This location is developing infrastructure for handling and permanent storage of CO2 from EU emitters into the Norwegian continental shelf.