Press Release: State aid: Commission approves €25.3 million French aid for the construction of a geothermal boiler

The European Commission has authorised France under EU state aid rules to provide a €25.3 million grant for the construction of a heat boiler using a renewable energy source (geothermal energy) in the Alsace region. The aid will be granted to a joint venture between Roquette Frères, Electricité de Strasbourg and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations. The joint venture will sell the produced geothermal heat to the industrial site operated by Roquette Frères in Beinheim, enabling the company to partly replace its existing gas-fired heating boilers. The Commission concluded that the aid is in line with EU state aid rules, because on balance, the positive effects of the measure outweigh the potential distortions of competition and of trade between Member States.