91997E2385

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2385/97 by María Estevan Bolea (PPE) to the Commission (10 July 1997)

Subject: The Thermie programme

The Commission provided support - under the Thermie programme - for the first stage of the Colón-Solar project in Huelva (Spain), which consists in the production of electricity using a combination of solar heat on a large scale and gas, with the aid of new technologies.

In the context of promoting renewable forms of energy, which is one of the Commission's priorities, have Directorates-General XVII and XII made provision for supporting the second stage of this project and other similar ones?

Answer given by Mr Papoutsis on behalf of the Commission (16 September 1997)

The Commission attaches a great deal of importance to the development of new technologies in the renewable energies sector.

In 1995, as part of its promotional and specific flanking action on renewable energies, the Commission financed a techno-economic study on the industrial use of thermal solar energy for the production of electricity in the Mediterranean region.

In 1996 it financed the first phase of two demonstration projects (one in Spain, the other in Greece) on the industrial use of a combination of thermal solar energy and conventional fuels to produce electricity.

With the first phase still under way and the initial results not yet available, the Commission, in agreement with the Thermie Committee, has placed the financing of the subsequent phases of these projects on the reserve list.

However, in a gesture of encouragement to the industrial sector concerned, it has granted additional support of ECU 1.2 million to the Spanish project.

Definitive funding of the solar projects will depend on the results of the preliminary work, and of a techno-economic assessment of the projects requested by the members of the Thermie Committee and due to be carried out by the end of 1997.

Lastly, a research proposal was recently submitted under JOULE (research and development). It will be evaluated according to the usual procedures and the results presented to the JOULE Committee for opinion before the Commission takes its decision, scheduled for October 1997.