Commission approves €150 million Greek state aid measure funded under Recovery and Resilience Facility to support construction of carbon storage facility in Prinos

The European Commission has approved, under EU state aid rules, a €150 million Greek measure made available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF') to support the construction of a carbon storage facility in Prinos. The measure contributes to achieving Greece's climate targets and the EU's strategic objectives under the European Green Deal.

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 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 tonnes of CO₂ per year emitted by industrial players. This ramp-up phase will precede the facility's future expansion up to 2.5 million tonnes of CO₂ per year planned under the second phase.

The aid will take the form of a direct grant, which will be disbursed in three instalments until 2026. The facility is expected to start the ramp-up phase in 2027 and become fully operational in 2030. The grant, which amounts to €150 million, will cover around 90% of the funding gap. If the project turns out to be very successful, generating extra net revenues, the beneficiary will return to Greece part of the aid received (claw-back mechanism).

Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager (pictured) in charge of competition policy said: “This €150 million measure will enable Greece to support the construction of a carbon storage facility in Prinos. The measure, which will be funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility, will significantly contribute to the achievement of Greece's and the EU's target of climate neutrality by 2050, while limiting possible distortions to competition.”

A press release is available online.

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