EU Innovation Fund

An innovative solar energy project being developed in Greece by German-based Protarget is among seventeen small-scale pilot projects selected for funding support through the European Commission’s Innovation Fund.

The project, named Sunbrewed, concerns the development of a customized solar thermal system in combination with a steam accumulator at a brewery, the initiative’s aim being to fully cover the facility’s fluctuating energy needs for production and preserve the availability, at all times, of thermal energy through storage technology.

In addition, as stated in the project’s analysis, renewable and decarbonized heat generated by the system promises to enable a reduction in heavy fuel oil consumption and CO2 emissions.

The project is one of seven selected for the Innovation Fund’s renewable energy category. These seven projects will receive an overall sum of 24.4 million euros from the Innovation Fund, supporting a total of 17 projects with provisions totaling 65 million euros.

Each of the 17 projects is expected to receive funding ranging from 1.6 million to 4.5 million euros, funds stemming from the EU Emission Trading System. Exact amounts to be awarded to each project will be established once the selection procedure has been finalized.

The selected projects cover a wide range of sectors with a particular focus on the manufacture of materials and equipment related to renewable energy, glass, ceramics and building materials. The list also includes projects in the domains of energy storage, iron, steel, refineries, chemicals, cement, lime and hydrogen.

This financial support, the European Commission has noted, will help companies in Europe, including small-scale enterprises, bring innovative technologies to market for energy-intensive industries, renewable energy and energy storage.

Protarget is active globally in the field of innovation with a range of applications concerning industrial-scale solar thermal technology.

Italy is focusing on efforts to export captured CO2 quantities for storage in Greece starting early next decade.

A joint carbon capture and storage (CCS) project involving Greece, Italy and France, also open to the participation of other countries in the future, was presented earlier this year in the neighboring country’s revised National Energy and Climate Plan, as part of the TEN-E regulation, offering guidelines for cross-border energy infrastructure.

Rome is seeking to channel CO2 quantities to Greece for storage at the depleted Prinos field. According to Italy’s NECP, facilities with a capacity of 3.6 million tons per year will be built in Italy to offer export potential to Greece from the first half of 2030.

As a next step, Italy needs to complete a regulatory framework for carbon capture, before establishing related bilateral contacts with Greece.

The underground Prinos storage facility is planned to be operational no sooner than three years from now, with an initial CO2 storage capacity of between 0.5 and 1 million tons, which could be boosted in the future.

The project has been included in the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), while an application has also been submitted for EU Innovation Fund support.

Local solar energy project on EU Innovation Fund support list

Italy aiming for CO2 exports to Prinos facility by early 2030