The European Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage Laboratory Infrastructure (ECCSEL)

The transition to a non-emitting energy mix for power generation will take decades. This transition will need to be sustainable, e.g. economically affordable. Fossil fuels which are abundant have an important role to play in this respect, provided that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is progressively implemented. CCS is the only way to reduce emissions from energy intensive industries. Thus, the need for upgraded and new CCS research facilities is widely recognised among stakeholders across Europe, as emphasised by the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP) [1] and the European Energy Research Alliance on CCS (EERA-CCS) [2]. The European Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Laboratory Infrastructure, ECCSEL, provides funders, operators and researchers with significant benefits by offering access to world-class research facilities that, in many cases, are unlikely for a single nation to support in isolation. This implies creation of synergy and the avoidance of duplication as well as streamlining of funding for research facilities. ECCSEL offers open access to its advanced laboratories for talented scientists and visiting researchers to conduct cutting-edge research. In the planning of ECCSEL, gap analyses were performed and CCS technologies have been reviewed to underpin and envisage the future experimental setup; 1) Making use of readily available facilities, 2) Modifying existing facilities, and 3) Planning and building entirely new advanced facilities. The investments required for the first ten years (2015–2025) are expected to be in the range of €80–120 million. These investments show the current level of ambition, as proposed during the preparatory phase (2011–2014). Entering the implementation phase in 2015, 9 European countries signed Letter of Intent (LoI) to join a ECCSEL legal entity: France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Poland, Greece, Norway and Switzerland (active observer). As the EU ERIC-regulation [3] would offer the most suitable legal framework for ECCSEL, the host country, Norway, will apply for establishing ERIC as the ECCSEL Research Infrastructure (RI) legal entity in 2017. Until the ECCSEL ERIC is approved by the European Commission (probably by summer 2017), an interim MoU agreement for the implementation phase of ECCSEL RI has been signed by 13 research institutions and universities representing the 9 countries. A consortium of these partners were granted 3 million EURO from Horizon 2020 to boost implementation of ECCSEL from September 2015 and two years onwards.