German lawmakers have reached a compromise that in principle
allows the underground storage of carbon dioxide, a technology known as carbon
capture and storage, or CCS, a system considered crucial in making power
generation from fossil-fuels such as coal more climate friendly, the upper
house of parliament said late Wednesday.
First reactions from the energy industry, however, cast doubt on the
effectiveness of the compromise, with concerns over whether the move will
provide adequate incentives for investment in researching the technology. The
agreement effectively halved the storage volumes set in a previous draft that
was approved by the lower house but rejected by the upper house of parliament.
The compromise kept in place veto rights for the 16 federal states and lowered
the maximum volumes of CO2 to be stored underground.
The European Union wants 12 demonstration plants built by 2020 and plans to
support selected projects financially. It previously opened treaty violation
proceedings against Germany for failing to implement a CCS directive.
The upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, said in a written statement that
the compromise foresees that each underground CO2 storage facility must not
exceed a volume of 1.3 million tons per year. Overall, the maximum CO2 storage
volume for the whole of Germany has been set at 4 million tons per year.
Wednesday's compromise, which still needs approval from both houses of
parliament, keeps in place veto rights for the 16 German states, albeit with
slightly eased wording that forces the states to prove there are
"geological characteristics or other public interests" that speak
against CCS.
Vattenfall Europe AG--a unit of Swedish state-owned Vattenfall AB that had
planned a EUR1.5 billion CCS power plant in eastern Germany, but abandoned it
last December citing a lack adequate legislation--Thursday welcomed the
compromise.
The company added, however, that the compromise "unfortunately comes too
late for our discontinued project".
Hildegard Mueller, head of Germany's main energy lobby group BDEW, also
Thursday said she considers the agreement to be too little, too late.
"My personal feeling is that the agreement won't be enough for the companies
to resume their abandoned projects," said Ms. Mueller.