Gas companies determine to a large extent the research agenda of the New Energy Coalition in Groningen, an initiative of millions to investigate renewable energy in the region, reports Follow The Money (FTM) Saturday.
The subsidy turnover of the project between 2018 and 2020 is 100 million euros.
The New Energy Coalition (NEC) is a collaboration between the three northern provinces, the University of Groningen, the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen and the business community. Nevertheless, the coalition’s administration exists according to the research of FTM from in particular representatives of the gas industry, such as NAM, GasTerra and Gasunie.
As a result, the gas companies have the main voice in determining the science agenda of the NEC. This current research agenda is primarily focused on natural gas and CO2 storage.
These are applications that focus on the existing gas infrastructure, without there appearing to be much attention for more sustainable structures.
The new hydrogen projects, which the gas companies did not want to start earlier, also mainly use the natural gas-generated variant, while there is also the possibility of switching to a more sustainable and green form of hydrogen.
Students and former stakeholders went according to FTM Earlier the bell about the lack of balance in the energy coalition.
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