EC presents 166 energy projects for the green future of the EU: One planned in Croatia

The European Commission presented on Tuesday (November 28) a list of 166 energy projects that will lay the foundations for the future energy system of Europe. Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson stated during the presentation that the list of cross-border projects outlines a new energy map of Europe and that the era of EU funding for fossil fuel infrastructure has ended.

The so-called Projects of Common Interest (PCI) include the construction of electricity, hydrogen, and CO2 networks across Europe, with plans to connect these new networks to other regions including North Africa, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine.

Hydrogen in focus

More specifically, more than half of the proposals, a total of 85, relate to initiatives for electricity, offshore, and smart electricity grids, many of which are expected to be operational between 2027 and 2030. Along with 14 projects for carbon dioxide transport networks aimed at creating a market for carbon capture and storage, the list includes 65 hydrogen and electrolyzer projects, marking the first inclusion of these technologies on the list.

As many as 29 hydrogen transport projects will be eligible for EU funding and benefit from expedited permitting, along with plans for 17 electrolyzers and seven underground hydrogen storage facilities. Most of them are expected to be completed by 2030, they say.

– The inclusion of hydrogen projects for the first time on the PCI list is a significant step forward and demonstrates Europe’s commitment to laying the foundations for a European hydrogen backbone – said Daniel Fraile, Chief Policy Officer at Hydrogen Europe.

The Commission expects that electricity demand in the EU will increase by 60 percent by 2030, and they believe that networks will need to integrate a large share of variable renewable energy.

– Networks must adapt by decentralizing, becoming more digital, and flexible systems with millions of solar panels on rooftops and local energy communities sharing resources – said Simson.

The Commission emphasized that cross-border infrastructure between member states should double in seven years and estimates that around €584 billion will be needed for all upgrades.

Project in Croatia

Of the 166 planned projects, Croatia is included in one of them. Specifically, the EC plans a cross-border carbon dioxide network (GT CCS Croatia) and the construction of pipeline transport infrastructure in Croatia and Hungary, with the underground hydrogen storage facility expected to be in Croatia.

This marks the sixth iteration of the PCI list, a compilation of international energy projects intended for public financing and prioritization that is updated every two years. Notably, this edition has for the first time ambitiously excluded fossil fuel infrastructure.

A large part of the list consists of energy projects, including electricity storage, interconnectors, and smart grid projects. However, for the first time, a list of 65 hydrogen and electrolyzer projects has also been included.

These hydrogen projects ‘will enable the export and transfer of renewable hydrogen flows to neighboring member states and allow large industries to decarbonize and remain in the EU,’ said Simson.

Carbon trains

One of the most striking projects on the list is a hydrogen pipeline connecting producers in Norway with industrial customers in Germany. The pipeline, a collaboration between the Nordic gas giant Equinor and the German energy company RWE, aims to transport two gigawatts of hydrogen produced from natural gas — also known as ‘blue hydrogen’ — by 2030, and up to five times that amount by 2038. Blue hydrogen will be produced at two large plants in western Norway, one of which will be built by Equinor and the other by Shell.

CO2 emissions from the production of blue hydrogen would be ‘safely stored beneath the seabed of Norway with the help of carbon capture and storage [CCS] technology, according to the project description. The approved list includes 14 such CCS projects in line with the EU’s goal of ‘creating a market’ for new technology. One of these projects proposes transporting CO2 by rail between Latvia and Lithuania. Feasibility studies are underway.

A long operation from Le Havre in France and Dunkirk in Belgium aims to transport by ship to various hydrogen sinks in the North Sea.

Dirty hydrogen

But both activists and academics have repeatedly warned that 80 percent of all CCS projects have been shut down due to cost overruns and faulty technology. Many that remain operational capture far less carbon than planned, as shown by a recent study from the U.S. non-profit Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

A 2022 study by Global Witness, which was previously reported by EUobserver, similarly showed that the CCS system at the blue hydrogen plant operated by Shell in Alberta, Canada — one of the few such operational plants in the world — emitted more CO2 than it captured.

These findings confirmed a 2021 study by Cornell University which showed that emissions from burning blue hydrogen are more than 20 percent higher than using conventional gas. However, independent researchers largely agree that cleaner green hydrogen produced from solar and wind energy should be used as a substitute for hydrogen use, limited to the production of cement, fertilizers, and petrochemical products such as methanol.