Ground has been broken on Project Greensand’s CO2 transit terminal in Esbjerg – billed as the first gateway for carbon storage in the EU.
Liquefied CO2 from several Danish biogas plants will be captured and transported by truck to the terminal, where it will be temporarily stored in six large holding tanks, each capable of holding around 1,000 tonnes.
When the tanks are full, the liquid CO2 will be loaded onto a dedicated carrier from Royal Wagenborg and shipped to the Ineos Nini platform in the North Sea, where it will be injected via pipeline into subsurface reservoirs and permanently stored 1,800 metres beneath the seabed. The EasyMax vessel will receive a ceremonial launch on 14 May ahead of operations starting late 2025 or early 2026.
In December 2024, Ineos and partners Harbour Energy and Nordsøfonden took final investment decision to launch the commercial phase of Greensand. This paves the way for expected investments of over DKK1bn to scale the storage capacity across the carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain.
Dennis Jul Pedersen, CEO, Port of Esbjerg, said the new terminal unlocks the development of CCS in Denmark and Europe, and “this is just the beginning”.
Mads Gade, CEO of Ineos Energy Europe, said, “Today’s groundbreaking sends a clear signal to carbon capture projects across Denmark and Europe that we are moving forward.”
The European Commission estimates that by 2040 the EU will need to store 250 million tonnes of CO2 annually to meet the Paris Agreement targets. CCS is also considered a key technology for reaching Denmark’s 2045 Net Zero goal.
