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.

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

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.