Denmark's Greensand CCS bags $30mn in state funding
The consortium planning Denmark's Greensand carbon capture and storage (CCS) project has secured a grant of 197mn Danish kroner ($30mn) from the government, one of its developers, Germany's Wintershall Dea, reported on December 8.
Wintershall Dea has joined with UK petrochemicals firm Ineos and nearly 30 other organisations to realise Greensand, which would potentially store up to 8mn metric tons/year of CO2 — the entire carbon storage capacity envisaged in Denmark's climate programme.
This CO2 would be stored in the Siri area of the Danish North Sea, where Wintershall Dea has been working for years. Its developers hope to launch a pilot phase in late 2022 and then begin full-scale storage operations in 2025.
“We warmly welcome the trust and funding support from the Danish Government, which recognises that CCS is essential for delivering climate goals in Denmark and Europe," Wintershall Dea CTO Huge Djikgraaf commented. "With CCS we can safely store unavoidable industrial emissions, enabling a clean and successful future for European industry. Wintershall Dea is proud to be driving this promising project forward.”
Wintershall Dea noted that there was broad political support for CCS in Denmark, citing a recent decision by the government and a majority of political parties to allocate significant funds for its development.
The subsea reservoirs set to be used for storage were confirmed as feasible by DNV in November last year, resulting in the project getting full technical approval in August this year. Denmark's Maersk Drilling was selected as a contractor of choice for the project in October.