The European parliament has approved the EU’s €5bn ($6.64m) Economic Recovery Package which includes €3.98bn for energy investments, of which €565m is for offshore wind projects and €1.05bn to support carbon capture and storage demonstration projects.
The European Wind Energy Association welcomed the parliament’s decision. “By including offshore wind and electricity grids in the Plan, EU decision-makers have chosen the right areas to make a real difference long-term,” saysid Christian Kjaer, EWEA chief executive. “The European parliament’s approval of the plan should give a real boost to the burgeoning offshore wind sector.”
Some €2.36bn of the funding will also go towards interconnecting Europe’s power grids and initiating the first stage of an offshore power 'supergrid', which should speed up offshore development and network integration even further. As a result, it will also benefit consumers directly by improving cross-border electricity flow and driving down the power price.
there is also support for the construction of gas pipelines, including €200m for the Nabucco pipeline, which will bring natural gas to Europe from the Caspian region.
The recovery package includes an agreement between the EU’s Czech presidency and the European parliament that, following a budget review by the European Commission in March 2010, unspent money from the energy portion of the package will be made available for renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects.
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