Greensand Carbon Capture Project Receives Backing from Energy Firms

Denmark’s Greensand carbon capture and storage (CCS) project has received major backing from a consortium of energy firms as the country makes strides towards its goal of reducing CO₂ emissions by 70% by 2030.

Project Greensand aims at building infrastructure and capabilities that will enable CO₂ captured in onshore facilities to be transported offshore for injection and storage beneath the seabed.

The consortium of 29 companies, which include Ineos Energy, Wintershall Dea, Schlumberger-New Energy and a number of research institutes and universities, have signed an agreement to support the next phase of the pilot project to demonstrate the safety of permanent CO₂ storage.

Fossil fuel firms, such as those in the consortium, have been keen to extol the benefits of CCS technologies as it could allow them to continue extraction of high-carbon fuels whilst also mitigating their impact on the climate.

Mads Weng Gade, a commercial director with Ineos Energy, said:“ We are taking this step by step. We now have the consortium in place and if we are successful in receiving ongoing support from the Danish Government and advisory board, Greensand will be able to take another important step forward in supporting the Danish Climate Strategy.”

The Greensand consortium will now file a grant application with the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program in Denmark. If the application is successful, it plans to start working on the project by the end of this year, with the offshore injection pilot taking place in late 2022.

A large majority of the Danish Parliament decided in December 2020 to set aside a special funding pool to support a Danish CO₂ storage pilot project, aiming to investigate the reservoir-CO₂ interaction in the Danish North Sea. This pilot project, if designed correctly, could form the basis for a decision, to enable CO₂ storage by 2025.

“Open access infrastructure for transport and storage of CO₂ is key to deliver on the Paris agreement and Aker Carbon Capture is proud to support national infrastructure projects with key capabilities and experience," said Henrik Madsen, chairman of consortium member Aker Carbon Capture.

“Greensand can be an enabler for a sustainable Danish industry by offering permanent CO₂ storage to a variety of greenhouse gas emitters, and thus supporting a strong common European drive towards net zero.”