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In West Macedonia (Greece), CO2 accounts as one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions related to the activity of the regional coal power plants located in Ptolemaida. The necessity to mitigate CO2 emissions to prevent climate change under the Paris Agreement’s framework remains an ongoing and demanding challenge. It requires implementing crucial environmentally sustainable technologies to provide balanced solutions between the short-term needs for dependency on fossil fuels and the requirements to move towards the energy transition era. The challenge to utilise and store CO2 emissions will require actions aiming to contribute to a Europe-wide CCUS infrastructure. The Horizon 2020 European Project “STRATEGY CCUS “examines the potential for CO2 storage in the Mesohellenic Trough from past available data deploying the USDOE methodology. Research results show that CO2 storage capacities for the Pentalofos and Eptachori geological formations of the Mesohellenic Trough are estimated at 1.02 and 0.13 Gt, respectively, thus providing the potential for the implementation of a promising method for reducing CO2 emissions in Greece. A certain storage potential also applies to the Grevena sub-basin, offering the opportunity to store any captured CO2 in the area, including other remote regions.

To achieve the objective of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2oC, there is a growing need to reduce drastically greenhouse gases emissions and even better to set up also negative emissions. Capturing and storing or valorizing carbon dioxide from biomass origin is a way to obtain negative emissions. The CO2SERRE project investigates techno-economic and environmental feasibility of implementing a “BCCUS” (i.e. CCUS for CO2 of biomass origin) pilot in France, in the Centre-Val de Loire Region. The concept consists in capturing CO2 from a biomass cogeneration plant in Orleans, valorizing it in local greenhouse farms, and storing the unused CO2 in geological reservoirs in the region. In addition to generating negative emissions, this concept promotes local and circular economy. To feed the techno-economic and environmental feasibility assessment, each stage of the CCUS chain is considered and assessed (capture, transport, geological storage, and use in greenhouses). Work carried out so far provides useful insights on technical feasibility of the process. However, the key challenge is the viability of the project on both economic and environmental sides. The LCA and TEA analyses, taking into account the whole CCUS chain, are under development and their outputs will address conditions for feasibility of the CO2SERRE concept. A preliminary assessment of geological storage capacity in the region have shown that targeted reservoir would be able to store the equivalent of the total emissions of the region Centre-Val de Loire. Thus, a longer term perspective for CO2SERRE project is to create a new technical and economic network in the region with platforms gathering CO2 emitter, users and storage.

Acquisitions of the Sentinel-1 satellite are processed and comprehensively analyzed to investigate the ground displacement during a three-year period above a double gas storage site (Lussagnet and Izaute) in Southwestern France. Despite quite low vertical displacements (between 4 and 8 mm) compared to the noise level, the cyclic motion reflects the seasonal variations due to charge and discharge during summer and winter periods, respectively. We can simulate the ground deformation at both storage sites by a simple mechanical model. However, ground movements of low-magnitude may be also induced by natural factors, such as the temperature or the soil moisture. Using a wavelet-based analysis, we show there is a soil expansion in the Lussagnet zone that contrasts both in phase and period with the seasonal deformation and that is linked to the surface soil moisture measured by the SMOS satellite. This other displacement is consistent with the water infiltration in the unsaturated zone followed by the swelling of a clay layer. This work reveals the combination of two different processes driving the ground displacement with the same order of magnitude (about 6 mm), namely the pressure variation of a deep gas reservoir and the swelling/shrinking of the shallow subsurface.

Few commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects are currently operating in the world, with almost all in the USA and China. Despite a high number of CCS pilot-scale projects achieved in Europe, only two commercial-scale projects are operating today. The goal of this study is to present a case study in France to select a promising location to deploy a notable CCS pilot-scale project based on a multicriteria regional-scale approach. The methodology applied in this case study describes and assesses different aspects involved in CCS technology at the regional scale, and then an evaluation of economic key performance indicators (KPI) of CCS is carried out. The assessment at the regional scale gives an overview of where CCS could be applied, when CCS could be deployed and how to launch CCS considering the needs and concerns of stakeholders in the region. Technical aspects were mapped, such as the location of irreducible CO2 sources and long-lasting emissions and the location of storage resources and existing potential transport infrastructures. We identified the waste-to-energy and chemical sectors as the main CO2 sources in the region. An economic analysis of a hypothetical scenario of CCS deployment was elaborated considering three of the higher emitters in the region. A CCS scenario in the Paris Basin region with a deployment between 2027 and 2050 indicates a low CO2 cost per ton avoided between 43 EUR/t and 70 EUR/t for a cumulated total of 25 Mt and 16 Mt, respectively, of CO2 captured and stored for 26 years, including 7.7 Mt of CO2 from biomass (potential negative emissions). Storage maturity and availability of the resource are the most uncertain parameters of the scenario, although they are the key elements to push investment in capture facilities and transport. Geological storage pilot projects are mandatory to prove storage resource and should be located in strategic locations close to potential CO2 sources in case of confirmation of proven resources. Well-perceived pilot-scale projects are the first step to start engaging in deciding and investing in commercial-scale CCS projects.

STRATEGY CCUS is a three-year project (2019-2022) funded by the H2020 research and innovation framework of the European Commission. It comprises 17 partners and is coordinated by BRGM (France). STRATEGY CCUS aims to provide realistic strategic plans from 2025 to 2050 for deploying carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) in Southern and Eastern Europe, from a local to a European scale. Eight promising regions, within seven countries are being studied. Plans and roadmaps for these regions will be developed based on economic and environmental drivers, technical potential and social acceptance. The deployment of operational CCUS clusters starts by an appraisal at local and regional level. Available data for each promising region was mapped to indicate the technical potential of CCUS development in each region. Relevant groups of stakeholders were identified and invited to form Regional Stakeholder Committees within each promising region. These committees are working with project partners to consider regional factors and concerns as well as to elaborate scenarios of CCUS deployment in their respective regions to ensure early local participation. In the 3 most promising regions for the deployment of CCUS, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Multiregional Input Output (MRIO) analysis and Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) designs will provide decision-support for the sustainable development of CCUS. Sound insights and a comprehensive diagnosis of the potential local business models associated with the different CCUS options will be provided for each region, as well as estimates for the sensitivity of the business model on storage capacity and injectivity data. CCUS roadmaps from 2025 to 2050 for each of the promising regions, with optional connections to existing CO2 infrastructure in the North Sea, will be elaborated. Scenarios will be based on the available relevant data and carried out in close exchange with the local stakeholders via the Regional Stakeholder Committees and the Industrial Club. Economic evaluation of each scenario will provide the main Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as cumulated CAPEX/OPEX required for each scenario, the cost breakdown per CCUS stakeholder, or for example the global costs expressed in €/t CO2 avoided per scenario. Lastly, an economic impact assessment will be performed at national and European levels in terms of volumes of quotas avoided for industries included in the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) with the CCUS scenarios and in terms of economic impact on the EU ETS carbon price. Exploitation and dissemination of the project’s results and findings engage with relevant end-users (industry and policy makers, local authorities), in order to pave the way for the operational implementation of CCUS clusters. The project is providing targeted information to multiple audiences (including the media and the public) and favoring dialogue, with a public policy perspective. The systematic approach followed by STRATEGY CCUS will facilitate the appraisal of new other promising regions and the creation of connection among them for the deployment of CCUS Europe-wide.