The European Commission is awarding a total of 1 billion EUR to renewables and other low-carbon energy projects; with the funding coming from revenue from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS).
The 19 projects awarded co-financing cover bioenergy, concentrated solar power, geothermal power, photovoltaics, wind power, ocean energy, smart grids and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
“The €1 billion we are awarding today will leverage some additional €900 million of private investment. So that is almost €2 billion of investment in climate-friendly technologies here in Europe,” said Connie Hedegaard, EU Commissioner for Climate Action.
“This is a contribution to reducing Europe’s energy bill of more than €1 billion per day that we pay for our imported fossil fuels.”
The funding will boost the EU’s renewable energy production by almost 8 terawatt hours (TWh) – equivalent to the combined annual electricity consumption of Cyprus and Malta.
Combined with 20 projects from a first round of funding, several thousand jobs will be created during the construction and operation phase.
The first round of funding occurred in December 2012 and contributed €1.2 billion to 23 renewable energy projects
The new projects include an 8MW solar farm in Portugal, a 40MW concentrated solar power facility in Italy and a 60.2 MW CSP plant in Cyprus.
The Australian Prime Minister’s office might need a tap on the shoulder regarding this news. Last month, Prime Minister Abbott told reporters in Canada carbon schemes were being abandoned globally; but it appears that may have just been wishful thinking on the PM’s part. According to a recent ABC Fact Check:
“The claim: Tony Abbott says emissions trading schemes are being discarded around the world, not adopted
The verdict: While there is uncertainty in the international carbon pricing market and global agreements are weak and non-binding, individual nations and sub-national regions are increasingly creating carbon trading schemes of their own.”
