Greensand project scales North Sea carbon storage

The Greensand project, a carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiative located in the North Sea, has entered an industrial phase. The project aims to utilize depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs to sequester carbon dioxide emitted from European industries, such as cement, chemical, and biomass production, which are difficult to decarbonize through electrification alone.

The project is operated by a consortium led by INEOS Energy, including Harbour Energy and the Danish state-owned Nordsøfonden. The facility, which saw its commercial operations inaugurated in Esbjerg, currently has an annual storage capacity of 400,000 tonnes of CO2. Long-term objectives aim to scale this capacity to between 4 and 8 million tonnes annually by the end of the decade.

To support this infrastructure, the project utilizes specialized vessels like the ‘Carbon Destroyer One’ to transport liquefied CO2 to injection sites approximately 250 kilometers off the Danish coast. The gas is injected at a depth of 1,800 meters below the seabed. The European Union has signaled its support for the initiative by providing 41 million euros through the EU Innovation Fund.