EU competition finds no carbon storage winner BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The first round of a European Commission competition to fund carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects failed to find a winner, the EU's executive confirmed on Tuesday. It still allocated 1.2 billion euros ($1.58 billion) to 23 renewable energy projects. CCS developers will be able to re-submit bids for the competition's second round, which the Commission said it will start "swiftly." EU sources have previously said another round will be launched next year. None of the shortlisted CCS projects, a technology seen as essential to curbing carbon emissions from power plants, made it to the final round because several governments failed to meet Commission criteria. Steelmaker ArcelorMittal withdrew its application for a French project, citing technical problems. The Commission statement confirmed reports that no CCS projects would receive EU funding, including Britain which had four projects on the Commission's shortlist published in July. The aim of the competition, known as NER300, is to raise funds by selling 300 million carbon allowances, which are rights to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide, in two tranches to help finance innovative renewable energy and CCS projects in Europe. The 275 million euros that had been allocated for CCS projects will remain available in the next round, which will also assign revenues from a further 100 million allowances. $1 = 0.7598 euros Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Editing by Adrian Croft