The first full-scale facility for the permanent storage of carbon dioxide in the EU opened recently at a ceremony at the Port of Esbjerg in Denmark, marking the facility’s move into commercial operation.
The Greensand carbon-storage project, led by Ineos Energy alongside Harbour Energy and Nordsøfonden, the Danish North Sea Fund, provides industry across the EU with the infrastructure to transport and permanently store CO2.
“Today marks an important milestone for Europe,” said Dan Jørgensen, European commissioner for energy and housing. “With the launch, here in Esbjerg, of the first fully operational site for offshore carbon storage in the European Union, we prove that carbon storage is a practical reality. We show that we can move from demonstration to deployment. We set out a path for European industries: to continue their transition to a low-carbon future, while maintaining production, investments, and employment in our continent. And we open a new front in the existential fight against climate change.”
Ineos said it will source the CO2 primarily from Danish biomethane plants. It said that allows the full carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain to be established and operated using readily available CO2 volumes while capture projects across industry continue to develop and scale. Once captured, the CO2 is liquefied, delivered by truck to a dedicated CO2 terminal at Port Esbjerg, shipped on Carbon Destroyer 1—the EU's first purpose-built CO2 carrier—and injected into the Nini West reservoir, a depleted oil field some 250 km offshore in the North Sea, approximately 1800 m beneath the seabed.
In this first commercial phase, Greensand is set store up to 400,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. The site has been designed to expand, with the potential to store between 4 million and 8 million tonnes each year as demand grows.
“For years, CCS in Europe has been defined by plans, targets, and ambitions. Today, Greensand brings the EU’s first full-scale CO2 storage site and value chain into operation,” said David Bucknall, Ineos CEO. “It provides a foundation on which future carbon capture projects across Europe can now build."
Ineos said The Greensand project will help the EU meet its CCS targets of 50 million tonnes annually by 2030, rising to between 250 million and 280 million tonnes by 2040.
“Europe will not achieve net zero by closing factories and exporting its jobs,” said Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of Ineos. “We need solutions that allow industry to remain competitive while reducing emissions. Greensand proves it can be done. This is not a pilot project, a concept, or a political ambition. It is a fully operational carbon transport and storage business. The technology works. The storage is ready. The challenge now is creating the right conditions for carbon capture to scale across Europe."