Engie and Carmeuse pull the plug on a multi-million dollar green project in Charleroi

With the Columbus project, Engie and Carmeuse, in collaboration with technical partner John Cockerill, wanted to capture the CO2 emissions of a new type of lime kiln and then combine them with green hydrogen. The process would ultimately produce synthetic methane, which, according to the two companies, could be fed into the gas network as renewable gas, or used in the transport sector or industry.

After a “detailed assessment”, the project partners decided that the project is not feasible under current conditions. “The completion of this project is part of a European market for hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives that is still in full development and has a slower development and structure than initially expected, mainly due to the regulatory framework and market for synthetic fuels isn’t it. yet they are ripe enough,” is that explanation.

The previous Walloon government had announced a budget of 88 million euros last year for two hydrogen projects of European importance, including the Columbus project.

At the end of 2020, communication from the three companies mentioned an investment of more than 150 million in the project. The project’s website mentions a total investment cost of more than 300 million euros. This would require the installation of a 100 megawatt electrolysis plant on the site of Engie’s Amercoeur power plant in Roux (Charleroi), which would prevent the release of up to 187,000 tons of CO2.