Background
Climate neutrality and the decarbonisation of society and industry are among the EU’s key objectives. The Green Deal, adopted by the EU in 2019, aims to achieve climate neutrality in Europe by 2050. The Green Deal supports the transition to a fair and prosperous society with a modern and competitive economy. A holistic and cross-sectoral approach is needed to ensure that all relevant sectors contribute to the overall climate goal. In this context, the transition to climate neutrality offers significant opportunities, including the potential for economic growth, new business models and markets, new jobs and technological developments.
The EU research project “POTENTIALS”
Decarbonisation is one of the key challenges in implementing the Green Deal. Phasing out the production and use of coal in Europe will make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. However, the overall goal is not only emission reduction and climate protect, but also to achieve a “just transition” so that the overall goal of climate neutrality can be achieved in a sustainable manner and with broad social acceptance.
When it comes to phasing out coal, one of the most common and promising alternatives is the reuse and repurposing of closed or soon-to-be closed coal-related facilities, such as coal mines and coal-fired power plants. Under the “Research Fund for Coal and Steel” (RFCS), the EU is funding a number of research projects, such as the “Re-Purposing Coal Power Plants” (RECPP) project, coordinated by vgbe. POTENTIALS has also been funded from this EU budget. The aim of the project is to identify synergies that exist between closed mines and coal-fired power plants, as well as closely related neighbouring industries, in order to exploit their common potential, so that possible and promising synergies are not left unexploited, as they are often overlooked during the phase-out process. POTENTIALS focuses specifically on solutions that exploit these synergies to ensure a sustainable and combined use of assets and resources, so that economic activities can develop again along the old value chains.
vgbe energy e.V. contributed its expertise on coal-fired power plants to the POTENTIALS project. Structural change and the phasing out of coal are well advanced in Germany. vgbe and its national members have already gained extensive experience in repurposing and conversion of decommissioned power plant sites. During the workshop in the EU Parliament, Dipl.-Ing. Sven Göhring presented examples of repurposing projects that German operators are planning or have already implemented. The transition to climate neutrality is also being implemented in a socially responsible way. vgbe presented the HydrOxy-Hub at the Walsum site (Iqony) and the GIGAWATT factory at the “Schwarze Pumpe” site (LEAG).
