The European Union is in principle willing to subsidize a project to store CO2 from the industry in Antwerp, Ghent, Zeeland and Rotterdam under the North Sea.
This is apparent from the list of energy projects that the European Parliament approved on Wednesday, 12 February 2020 and that have thus received the status of ‘Project of Common Interest’ (PCI).
The Porthos project is being prepared in Rotterdam in which various companies can supply CO2 to a transport pipeline running through the port area. Via this pipeline, the CO2 goes to an empty gas field under the North Sea to be stored permanently. The industry in Antwerp, Ghent, Terneuzen and Vlissingen does not have empty gas fields off the coast. It is being investigated whether this industry can be connected to the Rotterdam system via a pipeline. The goal is that less CO2 enters the atmosphere and climate change is prevented.
Capturing and storing CO2 (Carbon Capture and Storage, CCS) is one of the tracks in the transition to a climate neutral industry in 2050, in addition to, for example, production of green hydrogen, electrification, use of CO2 and recycling. It is expected that CCS will be applied in particular in the relatively short term and that more fundamental adjustments in the industry will be possible in the longer term. With CCS, CO2 can be kept out of the atmosphere in the relatively short term at relatively low costs. By working together, the costs can be kept as low as possible.
The port managers (North Sea Port, Port of Antwerp and Port of Rotterdam Authority) jointly investigate what the infrastructure between the ports should look like. They do that under the name ‘CO2 TransPorts’. Because CCS is an important tool in the fight against climate change for the European Union, CO2 TransPorts research has been given PCI status. CCS also plays an important role in the European Green Deal as a means to combat climate change. The three ports can apply for a subsidy in 2020 from a European infrastructure fund, the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’. The PCI status is valid for two years (2020 and 2021). The companies must then re-apply.
The industry in the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and North Sea Port are already interconnected with different pipelines. Pipelines are a reliable, safe and environmentally friendly means of transport. For example, the refineries in Antwerp and Vlissingen have been receiving crude oil by pipeline from Rotterdam for many years.
In addition to CO2 TransPorts, Port of Antwerp also joined another PCI application, Northern Lights. It groups a number of European industrial clusters that want to explore the possibilities for CO2 transport via ship to Norway. The Northern Lights consortium (Equinor, Shell and Total) is aiming to develop offshore CO2 storage capacity by 2023.
This link with two Projects of Common Interest allows the local Antwerp partnership of 8 leading parties on the port platform to study the feasibility of the various transport scenarios in more detail in the coming months.