Dutch Government Grants EUR150m To Support Rotterdam CCS Project

The Dutch government has said that it will spend EUR150m for the period 2010-2020 to support the Rotterdam Capture Storage and Demonstration Project (ROAD), an initiative of E.ON, GDF Suez and Electrabel.

The government backing is in addition to the European contribution of up to EUR180m for the investment phase of the project from the Economic Recovery Program.

The project focuses on the development and realization of CO2 capture, transport and storage at sea. CO2 will be captured in E.ON’s coal-fired plant under construction in Rotterdam. The CO2 will be transported by pipeline to the P18-A platform. At least 4 megatonnes of CO2 is expected to be saved tn the demonstration phase.

According to the government, the cost of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) are still ‘too high for profitable use of CCS’. Technology development and scale should reduce costs.