"We must unfortunately
accept that there is currently insufficient will in German federal politics to
implement the European directive so that a CCS demonstration project in Germany
could be possible," said Tuomo Hatakka, Head of Vattenfall Europe and Vattenfall's Country Manager for Germany.
The demonstration plant ought
to have commenced operations in 2015 and was supposed to capture up to 1.7
million tonnes per year of CO2. The project would have been a EUR1.5 billion investment, and was the German candidate for EU fundings through NER300. It was also awarded funding of €180 million from the European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR).
After much controversy, the
Bundestag on 7 July 2011 approved a CCS Act allowing for demonstration projects
in Germany. The act was turned down in
the German upper house in September 2011. Since then, two attempts to achieve a
compromise through a mediation process have failed. If no agreement is
attained, the Government will have to start on scratch again with a new legislative
proposal, as they are obliged to establish a CCS Act in order to meet the
conditions in the EU directive on CCS.
ZERO regrets the decision
of Vattenfall to stop the projects and see this as a back step in the global
process of up-scaling the CCS technology. With new coal and gas fueled power
plants starting up every week, the CCS technology will be indispensable in the
combat against climate change in a worldwide perspective.
We regret that the
Government has not managed to establish the necessary legal basis in form of a
CCS act within the deadline for the implementation of the EU Directive, which
was due this summer. Germany now stands without any CCS demonstration projects,
despite the targets described in the German Energy Concept, where the
Government aims at establishing two – three demonstration projects by 2020.
The Government should now
pursue the option of capturing Germany’s huge co2 emissions from power and
industry and storing them abroad. An infrastructure-plan for CO2 transport must
be developed and sufficient capture incentives for businesses are required. Like
this, Germany can maintain their expertise in capture technology and at the
same time contribute to the actual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
