Carbon Capture Projects Come Online in Iceland, Saudi Arabia

Officials in Iceland recently celebrated the opening of Steingerour, a state-of-the-art carbon capture installation that is transforming Iceland’s ON Power plant into one of the world’s first near-zero emission geothermal power stations. The facility is expected to deliver about 10% of Iceland’s 2030 Climate Action Plan targets for the energy and industrial sectors.

The Steingerour plant uses direct water capture to remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) emissions from the geothermal steam cycle. It then uses technology from Carbfix, a pioneer in carbon mineralization technology, to store the minerals underground, turning them into rock in about two years.

Iceland also is home to Orca, a direct air capture (DAC) and storage plant operated by Switzerland-headquartered Climeworks. The Orca facility came online in September 2021 and was visited by POWER in June 2022 during a tour of Iceland’s geothermal power plants and resource parks.

More recently, Climeworks, along with the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) and the Saudi Arabia Energy Ministry, inaugurated a DAC testing unit located within KAPSARC’s facilities in Riyadh. KAPSARC is a non-profit, independent research institution. The facility focuses on energy economics and global sustainability, providing research and consulting services to organizations in the Saudi energy sector and informing global policy decisions. It is considered Saudi Arabia’s leading energy think tank. The mobile DAC unit captures CO₂ directly from the atmosphere, and the demonstration project is validating Climeworks’ technology under the region’s hot and arid conditions. Climeworks last year began operating a U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas.

1. Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson (second from left), Iceland’s minister of Environment, Energy, and Climate, formally opens the Silverstone plant during a ceremony in June. Courtesy: Steina Matt

ON Power operates geothermal and hydropower plants in Iceland. Both ON Power and Carbfix are part of Reykjavík Energy. The Steingerour plant was inaugurated by Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, Iceland’s minister for the Environment, Energy, and Climate, during a ceremony in June (Figure 1). The facility is considered a cornerstone of the Silverstone project, a European Union (EU) Innovation Fund-backed carbon capture initiative.

Carbfix and ON Power received a grant of €3.9 million ($4.6 million) from the EU Innovation Fund for the Silverstone project. The project’s goal has been to scale up, design, and build an optimized Carbfix capture plant with the capacity to capture about 34,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually that would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere.

“By leveraging our patented technology, the Silverstone capture plant enables near-zero electricity generation at the Hellisheidi plant by capturing CO₂ in water and permanently storing it as stable minerals within the Earth’s largest carbon reservoir: the bedrock,” said Dr. Sandra Ósk Snaebjörnsdóttir, chief scientist at Carbfix. POWER met with Dr. Snaebjörnsdóttir during its visit to Iceland and the Hellisheidi plant in 2022, just months after construction for the Silverstone project began in late 2021.

The Carbfix capture and injection demonstration plant has been operational at Hellisheidi, one of the world’s largest geothermal power plants, since 2014, injecting about 12,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. The Silverstone project will now enable about 34,000 tonnes of CO₂ to be captured and injected each year. Officials said Project Silverstone is expected to reduce emissions by 150,000 tonnes over the project lifetime, and supports the capture of about 95% of the Hellisheidi plant’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“The goal of ON has always been to produce hot water and electricity in a responsible manner. Steingerour is a major milestone on that journey, and we are proud that, with this addition, the Hellisheidi Power Plant will be among the first geothermal power plants in the world to become nearly carbon neutral,” said Árni Hrannar Haraldsson, CEO of ON Power.

The Carbfix technology has been in development at the Hellisheidi site since 2007. The process mimics and accelerates natural processes that regulate atmospheric CO₂. It transforms emissions into stable carbonate minerals underground, permanently storing them in basaltic rock. The Silverstone project, in addition to its role in Iceland’s 2030 Climate Action Plan, also aligns with the country’s national objectives to reduce carbon emissions by 55% by 2030. Officials said the project reflects the growing global role of geothermal energy in decarbonization strategies.

“Silverstone is a great example of what can be achieved when science, business, and government work together,” said Jóhannsson. “This is a big day for climate technology in Iceland. Carbon capture and mineralization is one of the urgent measures to combat climate change. This has been repeatedly acknowledged by the international scientific community, including by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Important steps have been taken by Icelandic entrepreneurs in this regard, and it is imperative that the operation rests on clear rules for the future,” he added.

Edda Sif Pind Aradóttir, CEO of Carbfix, said, “Silverstone marks an important step in the increased utilization of Carbfix’s proven technology in connection with domestic energy production, while at the same time laying the foundation for more projects based on pan-European regulations. The opening of Silverstone follows on from the opening of other projects in the field of carbon management in our neighboring countries in recent days and is a testament to the progress of Icelandic and European industry towards real results on a broad basis.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian officials said the DAC testing unit located within KAPSARC’s facilities in Riyadh is aligned with advancement of the kingdom’s Circular Carbon Economy strategy. Climeworks, after a recent equity raise of $650 million, is focused on rapidly scaling-up capacity of its technology. The company said it will concentrate on implementing large modular DAC and storage facilities, investing in technological development, and growing its organization globally.

KAPSARC officials said the demonstration project is one of many steps Saudi Arabia is taking to advance carbon management solutions. Saudi Arabia has announced an ambition to capture and utilize up to 44 million tonnes of CO₂ annually by 2035 through the development of large-scale carbon capture utilization and storage hubs. The hubs are designed to consolidate industrial emissions, and enable permanent storage or conversion of CO₂ into products.

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.