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16.08.2021

3.9 million EUR for Icelandic climate project

Carbfix and ON Power aim for Zero-Emission Energy Production:

Carbfix and ON Power, subsidiaries of Reykjavík Energy, have received a grant of 3.9 million euros from the EU Innovation Fund for the Silverstone project. The project aims to scale up current carbon capture and mineral storage operations at the Hellisheidi geothermal plant, reaching near-zero carbon footprint. 

Geothermal Energy Production with Zero-Emission  
The aim of the Silverstone project is to scale up current carbon capture and mineral storage operations at the Hellisheidi geothermal plant, reaching near-zero carbon footprint. Through the Carbfix technology, CO2 will be dissolved in water and injected underground where it will be permanently and safely stored. 

The project will scale up, design, and build an optimised Carbfix capture plant with the capacity to capture about 34,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. This CO2 would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere from heat and electricity production at the power plant. The new capture plant will be commissioned in 2025. Thus, ON Power will take a leading role in green geothermal utilisation, providing heat and electricity with near-zero emission.

Carbfix Technology

Carbfix has developed an innovative technology of CO2 capture and mineral storage that turns CO2 into stone underground in less than two years. The project started at the Hellisheidi Power Plant in 2007, in collaboration with both Icelandic and international universities and research institutions. Since 2014, Carbfix has injected over 70,000 tonnes of CO2. The technology involves dissolving CO2 in water – a sparkling water of sorts - and injecting it into porous basaltic rocks, where it reacts with the rocks and forms stable carbonate minerals through natural processes. 

Larger and More Powerful Capture Plant

The Silverstone project aims to optimise and scale up the Carbfix technology by designing and constructing a capture plant facility that, once in operation, will capture and store nearly all of the power plant‘s CO2 emissions or around 34,000 tonnes. This is an increase from the current capture plant capacity of around 30% of the Hellisheidi power plant’s emissions. For the planned scale-up, the site is entirely self-sufficient with respect to water, energy, storage and does not depend on any external feedstock.

Actions to Achieve Climate Goals

Iceland’s Climate Action Plan calls for a 55% reduction in emissions of CO2 by 2030 from domestic energy producers and industry sectors. The Silverstone project alone will deliver 10% of those emission reductions. The replication potential of the project is not limited to the geothermal sector as the technology is adaptable to several hard-to-abate sectors, including steel, cement, ammonia, and waste management.

Berglind Rán Ólafsdóttir, ON Power CEO and Edda Sif Pind Aradóttir, Carbfix CEO.

Edda Sif Pind Aradóttir, Carbfix CEO: “Receiving such a generous support from the Innovation Fund is a great honour and acknowledgement for a young knowledge-based company such as Carbfix. It also demonstrates that the Carbfix technology is both economical and an environmentally friendly climate solution that can have far-reaching effects.“

Berglind Rán Ólafsdóttir, ON Power CEO: “The IPCC‘s new climate report shows that we must all do better in the fight against the climate crisis. The energy produced by ON – whether electricity or hot water - is green, but we want and must do even better. This grant allows us to take a large step towards a zero-emission operation, an ambitious and necessary journey that all companies should be participating in.“

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