The European Commission has approved, under EU state aid rules, a Greek measure of €150 million through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism to support the construction of a coal storage facility in Prinos Thassos. The measure will contribute to the achievement of Greece’s climate goals and the EU’s strategic goals under the European Green Deal.

The beneficiary of the measure is EnEarth Ltd, a Greek subsidiary of Energean plc, an exploration and production company that focuses on the development of resources in the Mediterranean and the North Sea.

The aid will partly finance the costs of building onshore and offshore infrastructure to set up the coal storage facility. The plant will be developed in two phases, but only the first will be funded under the current measure. In the first phase, EnEarth will install a large-scale pipeline to transport, from the onshore collection site to the offshore storage site, up to 1 million tons of CO2 per year emitted by industries. This development phase will precede the future expansion of the plant’s capacity to 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, which is planned for the second phase.

The aid will take the form of a direct grant disbursed in three installments until 2026. The plant is expected to start the development phase in 2027 and be fully operational in 2030. The grant, which amounts to €150 million, will cover about 90% of the financing gap. If the project proves highly successful, generating additional net income, the beneficiary will return to Greece part of the aid received (recovery mechanism).

The Executive Vice-President, Margrethe Vesteyjer, in charge of competition policy, said: “Thanks to this €150 million measure, Greece will support the construction of a coal storage facility in Prinos. The measure, which will be financed by the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, will significantly contribute to the achievement of Greece’s and the EU’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050, while limiting potential distortions of competition.”

George Fellidis