The EU NER300 programme : financing innovative low carbon technologies.
Date: 2011-11-11
Institutions: Directorate-General for Climate Action
Subjects: EU environmental policy, EU programme, clean technology, climate change, reduction of gas emissions, renewable energy

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FINANCING INNOVATIVE 
LOW CARBON TECHNOLOGIES
The EU NER300 Programme

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How the NER300 Programme is implemented

The  programme  is  implemented  at  EU  level,  but  with 
important  roles  both  for  the  Member  States  and  for  the 
European Investment Bank (EIB).

In the ﬁ rst round of calls for proposals, the key stages of the 
selection process are:

(cid:142)(cid:3) Following  the  launch  of  the  call  for  proposals,  pro-
ject  developers  submit  proposals 
to  Member 
States,  which  check  their  eligibility  and  select  the 
eligible  projects  they  wish  to  submit  for  further 
assessment to the EIB.

(cid:142)(cid:3) The  EIB  conducts  the  ﬁ nancial  and  technical  due 
 projects, 
diligence  assessment  of  the  proposed 
ranks  them  according  to  their  costs  per  unit 
performance  (CO2  stored  for  CCS  projects  and 
clean energy produced for RES projects) and makes 
the 
 recommendations 
European Commission.  

for  award  decisions 

to 

(cid:142)(cid:3) The  Commission  determines  the  number  of  pro-
jects which can be supported based on the available 
funds,  re-consults  with  Member  States,  and  makes 
the award decisions.

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The  Commission  launched  the  ﬁ rst  call  for  proposals  on 
9  November 2010. Award decisions are likely to be taken in 
the second half of 2012. 

The EIB is responsible for monetising the allowances.  Based 
on the award decisions, the EIB will provide funding to the 
respective Member States, which will distribute the funds 
and ensure proper implementation of the projects through 
legally  binding  instruments  with  the  project  sponsors.  
Projects will be required to enter into operation at the latest 
within four years of adoption of the award decisions.

Following  completion  of  the  first  round  of  calls  for 
 pro posals,  the  NER300  Decision  will  be  reviewed  and 
if   necessary  amended  so  that  any  technological  or  geo-
graphical  imbalance can be adjusted in the second round.

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Knowledge-sharing

Knowledge-sharing  requirements  are  an  important 
component  and  a  major  added  value  of  the  NER300 
Programme.  Two  “levels”  of  knowledge-sharing  are 
foreseen:  the  ﬁ rst  level  aims  to  accelerate  the  deploy-
ment of CCS and innovative RES by sharing information 
among projects using similar technologies; the second 
level  aims  at  a  wide  dissemination  of  information  to 
the public so as to increase conﬁ dence in CCS and RES 
technologies.

NER300 requires project operators who receive ﬁ nanc-
ing  from  the  programme  to  share  information  on 
technical  set-up  and  performance,  cost  level,  project 
management,  environmental  impact  and  health 
and  safety  of  their  projects.  Annual  compliance  with 
 knowledge-sharing  requirements  is  a  pre-requisite  for 
the disbursement of funds under NER300. 

Further information is available at: 

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/funding/ner300/index_en.htm

Roadmap  for  moving  to  a  competitive  low  carbon 
economy in 2050 

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/roadmap/index_en.htm

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The  EU’s  NER300  Programme  is  the  world’s  largest  fund-
ing programme for innovative low carbon energy projects 
and a key component of the EU’s strategy to tackle climate 
change.

Established  by  Article  10a(8)  of  the  EU  Emissions Trading 
Directive,  and  further  developed  through  Commission 
Decision  2010/670/EU  (NER300  Decision),  the  pro-
gramme  covers  300  million  allowances  from  the  new 
entrants  reserve  of  the  EU  Emissions Trading  System  for 
the co-ﬁ nancing of commercial demonstration projects of 
environmentally safe capture and geological storage (CCS), 
as well as innovative renewable energy (RES) technologies, 
in the territory of the EU.

The  300  million  allowances,  worth  €4-5  billion,  will  be 
monetised  and  distributed  through  two  rounds  of  calls 
for  proposals,  covering  200  and  100  million  allowances 
respectively. 

The  programme  intends  to  support  at  least  eight  CCS 
projects  and  at  least  34  RES  projects  in  eight  differ-
ent  technology  categories  (bioenergy,  concentrated 
solar  power,  photovoltaics,  geothermal,  wind,  ocean, 
hydropower,  distributed  renewable  management), 
least  one 
each  with  different  sub-categories.  At 
project,  and  at  most  three  projects,  will  be  supported  in 
each Member State.

NER300 will provide 50% of relevant costs but no project 
will receive more than 15% of the total available allowances.

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NER300 Programme –  
an innovative fi nancial instrument

NER300 supports 50 % of the innovative component of a 
project, also known as the ‘relevant costs’. These account 
for the additional investment required as a result of the 
application  of  an  innovative  RES  technology  or  CCS, 
minus  the  net  present  value  of  the  operating  beneﬁ ts 
and  costs  arising  from  the  application  of  the  technol-
ogy. The other 50 % of relevant costs, as well as all the 
conventional  costs  of  the  project,  will  be  funded  by 
private investment and through Member State support. 
More than half of the relevant investment costs of such 
 projects should in principle be covered by the operator.

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doi:10.2834/19865

© European Union, 2011
Reproduction is authorised provided the 
source is acknowledged.

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