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27 min ago 2 min read
Cement producer Heidelberg Materials has halted its carbon capture project in Geseke, Germany, warning that carbon dioxide (CO2) transport and storage systems would not be available at sufficient volumes in time.
The firm’s GeZero project was due to install an oxyfuel kiln with carbon capture to remove up to 700,000 tonnes of CO2 per year from the cement plant, with volumes transported for permanent storage under the North Sea.
It has not indicated how long the pause on development will last.
Despite being awarded almost €191m ($214m) from the EU Innovation Fund, Heidelberg said, “Current framework conditions are not yet sufficient to support a robust business case.”
The firm pointed towards challenges around CO2 transport and storage infrastructure, which it said were not mature enough to be “available on time, and at an acceptable level of economic risk for us as a CO2 producer.”
CO2 was due to be transported from the inland site via rail to intermediary storage sites before injection into permanent geologic storage.
It called for a “government-backed de-risking mechanism” for early movers to help support CO2 infrastructure development.
“The current pause is a decision made after careful consideration, to successfully plan the next steps for the GeZero project in the long-term under the right economic and regulatory conditions,” said Christoph Streicher, General Manager Germany.
The firm does intend to progress with “several” CCUS projects in Europe and North America, for which it said, “the necessary conditions for a successful business case are in place.”
These include its Padeswood CCS project in the UK, which began , and its development in Canada.
