Brussels approves RRF aid for Prinos storage facility

The European Commission said on Monday it had approved a Greek measure to support the construction of a carbon storage facility at Prinos with 150 million euros made available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), under EU state aid rules.

The measure contributes to achieving Greece’s climate targets and the EU’s strategic objectives under the European Green Deal, the Commission announcement said.

“The measure notified by Greece will be fully financed by the RRF, following the Commission’s positive assessment of Greece’s Recovery and Resilience Plan and its adoption by the Council. The beneficiary of the measure is EnEarth Ltd, a Greek subsidiary of Energean Plc, an exploration and production company focused on developing resources in the Mediterranean and North Sea,” the press release said.

The aid will partially finance the construction costs of the onshore and offshore infrastructure for the creation of the carbon storage facility. The facility will be deployed in two phases, but only the first one will be financed under the current measure.

Under the first phase, EnEarth will deploy a large-scale pipeline to transport, from the onshore collecting site to the offshore storage site, up to 1 million tons of CO2 per year emitted by industrial players. Upon expansion in the second phase, this will rise to 2.5 million tons of CO2 per year.