The European Commission is set to approve Greek State funding support for Energean’s Prinos CCS project following the completion of a third round of exchange between Greece’s energy ministry and the Brussels authority on the issue, energypress sources have informed.

Pre-notification of the support scheme was announced last June, but this was followed by three rounds of consultation entailing questions which the Greek ministry was required to answer, in line with the European Commission’s CEEAG procedures concerning guidelines on State aid in the climate, environment and energy sectors.

The Prinos CCS project has been included on the sixth edition of the EU’s PCI/PMI list.

Greek gas grid operator DESFA has already received funding support worth 75 million euros through the REPowerEU program for the development of a pipeline to serve carbon capture units planned to be installed by cement producers Heracles and Titan at their respective facilities in Milaki, on the island Evia, and Kamari, in the Viotia region, slightly northwest of Athens.

DESFA’s pipeline will deliver emissions from the two production plants to a carbon dioxide liquefaction facility, which will also be built by DESFA but will not be supported by REPowerEU funding.

The liquefied emissions of the two cement plants will then be transferred for permanent storage at the Prinos CCS, an underground facility to be developed by Energean.

Talks have begun at a European level, as highlighted in a recent European Commission report, for the establishment of an extensive CO2 transport network by 2050.

According to the report, CO2 transport pipelines in the EU could reach up to 19,000 km by 2050 and will require investments of between 9.3 and 23.1 billion euros.

Greece is considered among the European countries that can potentially contribute to CO2 storage, the Prinos underground storage facility being pivotal to this potential.