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  REA.C – Future Society

  C.3 – Widening Participation

 Call: HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03

 Topic: Twinning (HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03)

European Union is facing a pressing challenge to transition into a carbon neutral economy by 2050, with an intermediate target of 55% CO2 emissions reduction in comparison to 1990. Climate neutrality goals, as dictated by the EU Climate Law and the EU’s “Fit for 55” package, will be implemented via the EU Green Deal and the EU’s industrial strategy. However, careful strategic, large-scale investments in enabling technologies and processes are required, relevant to each member state’s strengths and weaknesses. This way, resilient societies can be built around sustainable energy transition pathways for each state, with parallel re-direction of resources for the transformation of knowledge into technologies and workforce skills within sustainable and functioning ecosystems.

 

Greece is lagging behind in the energy transition process due to a number of reasons such as:

  • high share of natural gas in the electricity generation mix on a permanent basis
  • use of fossil fuels, such as lignite, in high-demand periods
  • lack of industrial plans to exploit CO2 capture and storage technologies, as well as perspectives for CO2 export to other countries
  • lack of geothermal energy penetration into the electricity mix
  • lack of a national hydrogen strategy, currently under development

 

The country’s Smart Specialisation Strategy for 2014–2020 outlines green hydrogen storage as part of the renewable energy supply chain, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a decarbonisation tool for emerging industrial areas, and Geothermal Energy for heat and electricity production.

 

Furthermore, transitioning into carbon neutrality requires the development of technologies with the potential to mitigate CO2, such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Certain industries, such as steel, cement and chemicals, will be among the last to run fully on 100% renewable energies. On the other hand, large-scale hydrogen storage capacity in the subsurface is needed as part of the hydrogen supply chain, including H2 production, transmission, storage and electricity production. Such storage capacities may be provided by salt caverns, depleted gas fields and rock caverns. In terms of the energy mix, geothermal energy can be used to generate electricity or produce heat, although challenges remain regarding its environmental and societal impact.

 

Therefore, geosciences play a fundamental role in research activities tackling important energy transition themes through the use of underground resources, such as geological storage of CO2 and hydrogen, and geothermal energy. This is the foundation of the proposed project Twinning to Sustainable Energy Transition, hereinafter TWINN2SET.

 

The project will be implemented as a partnership between the Greek Institute of GeoEnergy of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH/IG), the Norwegian University of Stavanger (UiS), and the French Research Center IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN), in the domains of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), Deep Geothermal Energy, and Subsurface Hydrogen Storage.

 

In general, a Twinning Action aims to enhance networking activities between a research institution of a Widening country and top-class leading counterparts at EU level, through knowledge transfer and exchange of best practices. Twinning actions intend to help raise the research profile of the institution from the Widening country, as well as strengthen the research management and administrative skills of the coordinating institution.

 

The TWINN2SET project has received funding from the European Union. The granting authority is the European Research Executive Agency (REA) under Grant Agreement No. 101079246.