Providing technical assistance for the implementation of the NER300 Programme catalysing the development of low-carbon technologies

The European Union’s main energy strategy documents – Energy 2020 and Energy Roadmap 2050 – emphasize the need to deploy low-carbon technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and renewable energy technologies (RES) to reach the EU’s 2020 target and 2050 vision of a secure, competitive and low-carbon energy system. To catalyse innovation and implementation of low-carbon technologies, the Commission launched several initiatives, among them the New Entrants Reserve (NER300) Programme.

The NER300 Programme was a co-funding programme for the demonstration of low-carbon technologies at commercial scale. It was established under Article 10a (8) of the revised Emissions Trading Directive, stating that ‘up to 300 million allowance in the new entrants’ reserve shall be available until 31 December 2015’ to help encourage the construction and operation of CCS as well as innovation renewable energy technologies in the EU. The funding programme was further developed through the NER300 Decision in 2010. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has subsequently signed an agreement with the European Commission (EC) to aid in the implementation of the NER300 Initiative.

Trinomics provided the technical assistance support together with Ricardo-AEA (lead partner), TNO and Lasting Values.

The objective of this assignment was to provide support to the Commission with the implementation of the NER300 Decision, in particular by:

  • Assessing the contents of all NER300 projects’ annual reports, for 2014-2018. The assessment enabled the Commission to take action related to annual reports, as appropriate.