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New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Construction begins on Greensand CO2 transit terminal, which could become the first gateway for carbon storage in the EU
14/5/2025
News
Ground was broken on 5 May on the Greensand CO2 transit terminal at Port Esbjerg, Denmark, said to become part of the EU’s first full carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain.
Captured CO2 will be transported by truck to the Port Esbjerg terminal, where it will be temporarily stored in six 1,000 tonne-capacity liquid CO2 holding tanks for load-out on a dedicated carrier from Royal Wagenborg to its final destination of the Ineos Nini platform in the Danish North Sea. From there, it will be injected via pipeline into subsurface reservoirs approximately 1,800 metres beneath the seabed for permanent storage.
Greensand has already secured liquefied CO2 from several Danish biogas plants. In April, the project also signed an agreement with Swedish energy company Öresundskraft Kraft & Värme to investigate the supply of up to 210,000 t/y of CO2 from Sweden, with the first volumes expected to be stored from 2028. (Öresundskraft Kraft & Värme’s area of operations includes district heating and air conditioning.)
The dedicated carrier from Royal Wagenborg is claimed to be the first offshore CO2 vessel to be built in Europe. The 5,272bn m3 ship was scheduled to be launched at the Niestern Sander shipyard in the north of the Netherlands as New Energy World went to press.
Construction of the CO2 transit terminal in Port Esbjerg is expected to be completed in autumn this year, at which point Ineos Energy will take over operations. The other Greensand consortium partners are Harbour Energy and Nordsøfonden, the Danish state’s subsurface company.
Offshore injection is expected to start at the end of 2025 or early 2026. Initially, Greensand aims to capture, transport and store 400,000 t/y of CO2. The project has the potential to increase capacity to 8,000,000 t/y of CO2 towards 2030, reports Ineos.
In March 2023, Greensand became the first in the world to transport CO2 across international borders for permanent offshore storage as part of climate change mitigation efforts. This milestone was marked when His Majesty King Frederik of Denmark officially initiated the first CO2 storage at the Nini field during the pilot phase of the project.
The European Commission estimates that by 2040, the EU will need to store 250mn t/y of CO2 to meet the Paris Agreement targets. CCS is also considered a key technology for reaching Denmark’s 2045 net zero goals.
The economic potential is significant, claims Ineos: if Denmark captures just 5% of the European CCS market, it could create up to 9,000 jobs and generate an economic impact of DKK50bn ($7.5bn).
Commenting at the groundbreaking, Mads Gade, CEO, Ineos Energy Europe, said: ‘This is a key milestone for Greensand and an important step in creating the EU’s first full CCS value chain. Carbon capture and storage will be critical to achieving climate targets. Today’s groundbreaking sends a clear signal to carbon capture projects across Denmark and Europe that we are moving forward.’
Dennis Jul Pedersen, CEO of Port of Esbjerg, added: ‘The new terminal in Esbjerg unlocks the development of CCS in both Denmark and Europe. For us at the port, this is just the beginning of a new reality where CCS will play an increasingly important role.’
