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European technology platforms
European technology platforms help industrial and academic research communities to streamline their efforts around shared timelines and strategic research agendas.
These agendas map out the technological breakthroughs that industry and society need by providing:
- research and development goals,
- timeframes,
- action plans.
IFP is actively involved in two European platforms:
Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plant (ZEP)
Worldwide energy consumption is growing by 2% a year today. At this pace, it will plausibly double by 2050. Forecasts also suggest that renewable sources will account for less than one-third of worldwide energy production by then. The remaining two-thirds, it follows, will come from fossil fuels which will generate and release huge amounts of CO2 and thereby exacerbate the greenhouse effect.
Curbing greenhouse-gas emissions
The goal, in other words, is to reduce CO2 emissions. Generating electricity using fossil fuels but without releasing greenhouse gases (i.e. using CO2 capture and geological-storage technology) is one of the options that experts across Europe are appraising. Applied on a large scale, this new technology could cut Europe’s CO2 emissions by 56% by 2050.
Developing solutions to capture and store CO2
ZEP was set up to promote technologies aiming at generating electricity using fossil fuels without releasing CO2. It broached the issue from four strategic angles:
- improving energy efficiency in coal-fired power stations,
- cutting CO2 capture and storage costs with a view to rendering the prospect economically viable and commercially attractive,
- providing tax incentives and a clear legal framework for business firms.
- promoting public acceptance of this new technology, by circulating information on a national level, and on a local level in areas selected for storage.
Kurt Haege from Vattenfall, a Swedish electric company, is running this platform which counts top-ranking public-sector and non-governmental organizations. Members include electric companies (RWE, E.ON and EDF), equipment provider (Alstom and Siemens) and oil companies (BP, Statoil, etc.). IFP’s Chairman and CEO, Olivier Appert, is serving as ZEP’s Vice President.
Demonstrators
ZEP has been advocating the building of a dozen industrial-scale CO2 capture and geological storage operations since 2007. These units will be built in various European countries by 2015 with a view to entering commercial operation in or around 2020.
Over the medium term, this technology should prevent millions of tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere over hundreds of years, and thereby play a part mitigating global warming.
Biofuels
In 2005, biofuels only provided 1.2% of the energy that Europe’s transport sector consumed. In other words, 97% of the transport sector’s energy still came from oil.
Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions
The goal is to gradually replace oil with environment-friendlier biofuels. The European Commission set up this technology platform in a bid to curb reliance on oil and thereby reduce greenhouse-gas emissions (including CO2).
Groundbreaking solutions
This platform’s mandate involves drafting an action plan to increase the share of biofuels in the transport sector to 25% by 2030. It is doing so by pursuing three strategic goals:
- identifying research requirements,
- reducing biofuel-production costs,
- establishing research and development partnerships between the public and private sector.
This platform counts members from the various business sectors concerned by developments in the biofuels field. Members include companies such as Total, Neste Oil, Repsol, Volkswagen, Volvo, Abengoa, and research centers (e.g. ECN, VTT, IFP)
IFP’s Chairman and CEO Olivier Appert is serving as this platform’s Vice President. Other IFP delegates are involved in the workpackages:
- Xavier Montagne, from the Scientific Management,
- Jean-François Gruson, from the Economic Studies Division,
- Alexandre Rojey, Director of Sustainable Development, who runs the workpackage dealing with conversion processes.
This platform should grow into a reliable source of information for public opinion on developments in biofuels’ share role in public and private transport in Europe.