E.ON Benelux invests €10 mln in Dutch CO2 capturing project CATO-2
Rotterdam, 1 July 2008 – On 1 July 2008 Wulf Bernotat, Chief Executive Officer of E.ON AG, announced that E.ON Benelux has committed 10 mln euros to the Dutch CO2 capturing project CATO-2. The declaration of intent with TNO, on behalf of the CATO-2 working group, was signed during an international press gathering on E.ON’s innovation policy, held in Rotterdam. The E.ON contribution is intended for research into the commercial applicability of CCS. E.ON expects other partners to join the programme. E.ON seeks to lead in research and development of CCS technology and to this end has joined up with (among others) the Dutch CATO programme. This programme is aided by input from a large number of partners including the Ministry of Economic Affairs, TNO, universities, the business community and environmental bodies.
Fossil fuels remain essential for a balanced mix of fuels to meet future growing demand for reliable and affordable energy. Capture and storage of CO2 (CCS) makes a major contribution to reducing CO2 emissions from power stations, on the basis of fossil fuels. CATO-2 connects a number of Dutch players in applied research into the chain of capture and storage of CO2.
The CATO-programme is the Netherlands’ most important initiative around clean use of fossil fuels. On 3 April 2008, Minister Jacqueline Cramer (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) opened a pilot plant forming part of the CATO-1 project, based at E.ON Benelux. The pilot plant was designed as a multi-purpose installation to test and develop new means of absorption, gas/liquid contactors, and process integration concepts. The test plant is the first important development step. Experiences gained from CATO-1 provide a basis for CATO-2 involving broader applied research into the entire CCS chain and boosting capacity for capturing processes, and concentrating on the possible development of a test plant on a larger scale, in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region.
With more than 30 million customers, annual sales of just under EUR69 billion and close to 88,000 employees, E.ON is the world’s largest investor-owned energy service provider.
E.ON Benelux is an energy producer and supplies electricity, heat, CO2 and natural gas to both residential and business customers. Its power stations with a total capacity of roughly 1,900 MW are located in the Netherlands.