Norway commissions Climeworks to conduct feasibility study

The Zurich-based company Climeworks is to prepare a feasibility study for the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment. The study is for a plant for the direct air capture of CO2 (CDR) and its storage. The plant, called Norse Pine, is scheduled to go into operation in 2030 and will have a capacity of several thousand tonnes per year. According to a statement, the state-owned company Enova has awarded Climeworks the equivalent of 2.2 million Swiss francs for the study.

Climeworks already operates plants like this in Iceland: Orca and Mammoth. For their operation, the company needs clean energy sources and safe, permanent geological storage options. Norway offers both, according to the statement.

With this potential new plant, Enova aims to help companies that capture large quantities of CO2 to come closer to an investment decision. At the same time, the Norwegian Environmental Protection Agency has commissioned an external study to evaluate various economic support mechanisms.

Public policy is critical to enabling the drastic scale-up of CDR solutions that the world needs, writes the statement. According to Climeworks Chief Financial Offcier Andreas Aepli, the contract will “accelerate direct air capture as a climate solution, both in the Nordics and globally – something we are truly grateful to Enova for enabling.”

Climeworks is one of nine projects that have been awarded the contract. Their combined capture capacity amounts to 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year. This corresponds to almost half the annual emissions from passenger cars in Norway. ce/mm