Denmark grants its first licenses to retailer carbon deep below the North Sea

Denmark granted its first licenses for carbon seize and storage within the Danish a part of the North Sea. The nation expects to lure 13 million tons of carbon dioxide underground per yr from 2030 with these licenses.

Denmark granted three licenses for carbon seize and storage within the Danish a part of the North Sea, the ministry of Local weather, Power and Utilities introduced on February 6. With these licenses, Denmark foresees storage of at the very least 13 million tons of carbon yearly in its underground from 2030.

The licenses got to INEOS, Wintershall DEA as a part of the Greensand consortium venture and TotalEnergies for the Bifrost venture.

INEOS and Wintershall DEA estimate they may be capable to retailer 1.5 million tons of carbon per yr earlier than the top of 2025 – and upwards of 8 million tons yearly in 2030. This corresponds to emissions from roughly 725.000 Danes a yr – or greater than 13% of Denmark’s annual CO2 emissions. TotalEnergies estimate that they may be capable to retailer greater than 5 million tons of carbon yearly from 2030.

In response to the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Denmark has a storage potential of as much as 22 billion tons, which accounts for about 500 to 1,000 years of Danish carbon emissions.

Investments within the Greensand and Bifrost initiatives quantity to 612 million Danish crowns (88 million {dollars}), with the Danish state funding 46 % of it.

Storing carbon deep underground has gained curiosity from nations and industries as a strategy to meet local weather objectives and scale back emissions. It’s also a brand new enterprise alternative for Denmark.

With carbon seize and storage, carbon dioxide is captured from industrial crops and pressurized in order that it turns into liquid. Then, it’s despatched by ships or pipelines to a spot the place carbon is saved deep underground in reservoirs or saline aquifers.

With the licenses, the three corporations will retailer carbon in depleted oil and fuel fields and beforehand unexplored saline aquifers 1 to 2 kilometers below seabed by pumping the CO2 into small pockets in sandstone or limestone layers and thus buried below thick layers of impermeable claystone.

The North Sea is a central space in Europe for offshore oil, fuel and wind energy.

Denmark additionally plans to develop onshore carbon seize and storage technique.

In a pilot venture from Greensand concerned the Ineos Oxide manufacturing facility in Belgium, the place CO2 was sailed in particular containers for a platform within the North Sea to ship it down in a effectively.

In September, the Danish authorities signed a memorandum of understanding with Belgium on a framework for cross-border transportation of CO2 for geological storage with the intention to facilitate the worldwide motion of carbon.

The Danish Power Company introduced the identical day it has suspended the processing of all pending offshore wind turbine initiatives as they could be in breach of European Union regulation. Denmark expects to extend fivefold its offshore wind energy capability by 2030, comparable to 9GW of offshore wind. The ministry declared the objectives stay unchanged because it investigates the explanations for the suspension.

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