EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/273

(2004/C 84 E/0320)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3947/03

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(22 December 2003)

Subject: Subsidies for pioneering solar energy plants

In Priolo (Sicily), an electric power station of a new kind is to be constructed, based on a new type of solar thermal energy which will be captured by means of 360 parabolic mirrors. The project is known as Archimede. The renewable energy obtained, which the inventor says will be totally non-polluting, will be far less expensive than conventional energy. The technology of concentrating solar heat so as to obtain the high temperatures needed to activate a turbine and generate electricity will be linked up to a conventional power station. The turbine could be fed either by gas combustion or by solar energy. This method should make it possible to produce 20 megawatts of electricity daily, thanks to which a saving in oil consumption of some 12 500 tonnes per annum (the average figure for an equivalent production level) could be obtained. In addition, the level of emissions of carbon anhydride would be, according to estimates, 40 000 tonnes per annum less than in the case of a conventional electrical power station. The Archimede power station can accumulate energy and can also function at night and on sunless days.

Is the Commission aware of the pioneering initiative represented by this plant?

Can it state whether funds exist for such purposes, especially for the southern Member States with their large number of sunny days?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(18 February 2004)

The Commission is aware of the joint approach taken in Italy by the Italian National Electrical Energy Agency: Ente Nazionale per l'Energia elettrica (ENEL) and the European Nuclear Energy Agency (ENEA) to investigate the potential of concentrating solar power systems for electricity production by using the steam produced by the solar plant in the turbine of the existing, conventional ENEL generation facility in the Archimede-project in Priolo.

This chosen approach should allow a reduction in the investment costs of the solar plant which would use the existing turbine-generator assembly, increasing the electrical power from 760 MegaWatt (MW) (the power of the ENEL conventional plant) to 780 MW.

The estimated costs of EUR 48 million needed to implement the 20 MW solar facility are covered by the Italian government (40 %) and ENEL (60 %).

In the context of the energy part of the 5th Research and Technological Development (RTD) Framework Programme (1998-2002), the Commission is currently supporting three major projects in this sector that benefit from an overall Commission contribution up to EUR 15 million, almost equally divided among three projects.

The three projects are located in the South of Spain where, besides the very favourable solar radiation, they can take advantage of the available feed-in tariff scheme. Currently, the Spanish Government provides almost EUR 0,12 kilowatt-hour (kWh), in addition to the electricity market (pool) price, to support the electricity produced by the solar thermal power plant.

Experience shows that the Community contribution is very meaningful for the financial viability of the project, representing an important share of the total eligible costs. At the same time, the Community contribution is only a modest fraction of the total costs of the projects. Only the costs for the unconventional, innovative parts of the project are eligible. Civil works, and turbine-electricity generation assembly, for instance, are not considered eligible costs. This means that these projects need to receive relevant loans to be launched.

The first of these projects, Planta Solar 10 (contract NNE5-1999-356) aims at demonstrating the commercial viability of a 10 MW electric generation plant (and an annual electricity production of 20 Gigawatt hours (GWh)) using the central receiver approach. The project total costs are higher than EUR 30 million, the total eligible costs are almost EUR 17 million and the Community contribution is close to EUR 5 million. Right now, a technical modification to the initial design is being considered to use a saturated-steam receiver instead of the air receiver.

The second project, Solar Tres (contract NNE5-2001-369), consists of a 15 MW plant using the same central receiver approach as the previous project with innovative solutions for the energy storage system using molten salt. The project total costs are EUR 53 million, the total eligible costs more than EUR 15 million and the Community contribution is EUR 5 million. This project started recently. The Commission is now in the phase of evaluating the first six months of the contractual period.

The third project, Andasol (contract NNE5-2001-560) consists of a 50 MW electric generation plant (more than 180 GWh of electricity produced annually) adopting the solar trough approach coupled with a molten-salt based storage system. The project total costs are almost EUR 157 million, the total eligible costs more than EUR 14 million and the Community contribution is EUR 5 million. This project also started quite recently so that the Commission has still to evaluate the first six-month contractual period.

These three projects are amongst the largest plants for electricity production on the basis of renewable energies and are very relevant for the Commission's actions related to renewals, in particular in view of the Directive 2001/77/EC (1) on the electricity from renewable energy sources.

The 6th RTD Framework Programme currently running also offers support for innovative European projects in the field of renewable energy. The calls for proposals under the 6th RTD programme are published on the Commission's Cordis web-site.

Finally, the Commission is currently undertaking a feasibility study for the creation of innovative renewable energy finance instruments supporting the Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition (Contract ENV.C.2./SER/2003/0068).

The majority of Member States grant subsidies for solar thermal energy, in order to render it economically viable. In the case of Spain, the contribution is more than three times the average price of the Kw/h in the organized market.

(1) Directive 2001/77/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market, OJ L 283, 27.10.2001.