RWE said its innovative projects have been pre-selected for funding by the EU Innovation Fund for demonstrating innovative low-carbon technologies.
These are RWE’s FUREC project in the Netherlands and an offshore wind farm off the German coast, in whose project company Nordsee Two RWE holds a 51 percent stake. The two projects are among a total of 17 projects selected by the EU Innovation Fund for the preparation of grant agreements.
The EU Innovation Fund subsidises breakthrough technologies for renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage and carbon capture, use and storage.
The selected projects with RWE participation are:
FUREC
RWE aims to produce hydrogen — under the name FUREC (Fuse Reuse Recycle) — for the chemical industry. Household waste from Limburg in the Netherlands is to replace natural gas. RWE will set up a plant in Limburg to process residual materials into raw material pellets. These will be converted into hydrogen in another plant in Limburg’s Chemelot industrial park, which will be supplied to OCI Nitrogen’s fertilizer plants.
The industrial park can reduce the natural gas consumption by more than 280 million cubic metres annually. This corresponds to the annual consumption of about 200,000 households. It can also cut the emission of about 500,000 tons of CO2 per year.
Offshore wind farm
RWE is developing an offshore wind farm off the German coast together with its Canadian partner Northland Power. The wind farm will have a grid capacity of 433 MW and it will start operation in 2026.
RWE and Northland Power aim to demonstrate the technical and commercial feasibility of producing hydrogen at sea. They will integrate an electrolyser into the offshore wind farm. The green hydrogen could be used for vessel fueling and to supply emergency power to the offshore substation or wind turbines.
EU said it is investing over €1.8 billion in 17 large-scale innovative clean-tech projects with a third round of awards under the Innovation Fund.
EU will release grants from the Innovation Fund to help bring breakthrough technologies to the market in energy-intensive industries, hydrogen, renewable energy, carbon capture and storage infrastructure, and manufacturing of key components for energy storage and renewables. The selected projects are located in Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden.
Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: “Today’s grants support innovative businesses across Europe to develop the cutting-edge technologies we need to drive the green transition. The Innovation Fund is an important tool to scale up innovations in renewable hydrogen and other solutions for European industry.”
