In 2008, as part of the Grenelle Environmental round tables, ADEME launched a call for expressions of interest to support CO2 capture-storage to the value of €45m (£38m). The Grenelle had identified this technology as one of the priority sectors in the fight against climate change, thus registering for ADEME’s pilot research fund to test it out on French soil.
This CO2 storage technology, called CCS, is able recuperate the CO2 emitted by industrial installations in order to transport it and then inject it into a storage infrastructure.
This system is recognised today by important international authorities such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the European Union. According to an IPCC report, published in 2005, carbon dioxide sequestration could be used to process up to 15% of the 20% of global emissions that industrial emissions represent, by 2050.
The France Nord project: identifying CO2 sequestration
The four projects retained by ADEME all came from consortia between research institutes, public authorities and large private energy groups, which represent a considerable asset for the financing of this very costly innovation. Alstom, EDF, GDF Suez, Total and ArcelorMittal are the main stakeholders in these initiatives.
The France Nord project, led by Total, brings together in particular six large industrial groups (Air Liquide, EDF, GDF SUEZ, Lafarge, Total and Vallourec) and three French research bodies (BRGM, IFP and INERIS) as well as two German research bodies (EIFER, based in Karlsruhe, and the GeoForschungsZentrum).
This pilot project intends to test CO2 injection in saline acquifers in the north of France, which are more than 1,000 metres deep. After two years of testing, technical studies will allow carbon dioxide sequestration sites to be identified and CO2 transport infrastructures capable of relaying industrial sites to storage sites to be defined.
Of the €54m allocated to the North France project, 40% is financed by ADEME’s pilot research fund.
With these initiatives, France is catching up in this field of research. Currently, 141 CO2 storage projects are being piloted worldwide. In Norway, the oil company Statoil has already been storing around 1 million tons of CO2 in one of its natural gas deposits for 14 years. While the Weyburn site, in Canada, has been injecting carbon gas produced by an American gasification plant into oil wells.
Numerous stages remain to be confirmed in order to test the environmental efficiency of CO2 capture-storage technology. Nevertheless, starting tests on French soil demonstrates a process of industrialisation of the fight against climate change, carried by investment in new technologies.
Subject: This report closely analyses the different renewable energy sources and their potential in terms of European production between now and 2050. Be it solar, hydraulic, thermic or agricultural, the use of renewable energies has many social, economic and environmental advantages. The European Union could thus produce 100% of its energy consumption through renewable energies by 2050.
Authors: European Renewable Energy Council
Date: April 2010
Subject: "Think Globally, Act Locally" is the message delivered by the Assembly of European Regions in their report on regional energy policies. 67 regions in 25 countries participated in the survey in order to measure regional opportunities in terms of renewable energies. The objective is to make the region an incontrovertible player in the development of clean energy resources and in meeting energy demand. This report thus shows a panorama of regional activities and the different ways in which European territories extract and work energy resources.
Author: Assembly of European Regions Committee on Economy and Regional Development
Date: April 2010
