Ørsted Kalundborg Hub, Denmark

Ørsted Kalundborg Hub is a large-scale planned carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Denmark. The project will involve the development of a carbon capture hub for biomass power stations at Asnæs and Avedøre.

In May 2023, the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) awarded a 20-year contract to Ørsted for the Kalundborg Hub through a tender process.

The development of the CCS project will help in establishing a large-scale CO₂ infrastructure across Denmark.

The Asnæs and Avedøre combined heat and power plants are expected to start capturing and store biogenic carbon during 2025. The two units will be capable of capturing 430,000 tonnes of biogenic CO₂ annually, starting 2026.

The biogenic CO₂ will be shipped to an offshore reservoir in the Norwegian North Sea for safe storage.

Location Details

The Ørsted Kalundborg Hub will be established at Ørsted’s wood chip-fired Asnæs Power Station in Kalundborg, western Zealand and at the straw-fired boiler of the Avedøre Power Station in the Greater Copenhagen, Denmark.

Ørsted Kalundborg Hub Details

The straw-fired unit at Avedøre Power Station generates electricity by using approximately 145,000 tonnes of locally sourced straw annually.

The Asnæs Power Station houses a wood chip-fired unit which can convert 200,000 tonnes of wood chips into electricity, district heating, and process steam for the local industry.

Ørsted will establish a capacity that will enable capturing 150,000 tonnes of biogenic CO₂ per year from the straw-fired unit located at Avedøre Power Station and another 280,000 tonnes annually from the wood chip-fired unit at Asnæs Power Station.

Initially, the CO₂ captured at Avedøre will be transported to Asnæs via lorries until a shared pipeline infrastructure has been established across Zealand.

The Asnæs Power Station will operate as a CO₂ hub and it will handle and ship biogenic carbon from the two power stations.

The biogenic carbon captured will be transferred in liquified form by ship to Øygarden, Norway for permanent storage.

The project will involve transporting 430,000 tonnes biogenic CO₂ annually from the Ørsted Kalundborg Hub to a receiving terminal at Øygarden.

The liquified carbon dioxide will be stored temporarily in onshore tanks, and then it will be injected into the offshore reservoir located 2,600m below the seabed via pipeline for permanent and safe storage.

Contractors of Ørsted Kalundborg Hub

In May 2023, Aker Carbon Capture secured a contract with a total value of more than €200m to deliver key technology and equipment for the Ørsted Kalundborg Hub.

The scope of contract will include the delivery of five Just Catch units and additional equipment such as liquefaction systems, and temporary CO₂ storage and on-/offloading facilities.

Northern Lights, which is involved in the development of open-source CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure, signed a CO₂ Transport and Services Agreement (TSA) with Ørsted in May 2023.

As agreed, Northern Lights JV will transport 430,000 tonnes of biogenic CO₂ annually from the Ørsted Kalundborg Hub in Denmark to the CO₂ receiving terminal at Øygarden, Norway for ten years.

The agreement is set to become effective from 1 January 2026.

Just Catch Carbon Capture Technology

Just Catch is a standardised carbon capture plant offering from Aker Carbon Capture.

A modular and configurable product, Just Catch enables efficient production and deployment of carbon capture units. It is offered as a turnkey solution.

Just Catch is available in model 40, 100 and 400 versions, which deliver capacities of 40,000, 100,000 and 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually per year, respectively.

The process of carbon capturing will be heat integrated with the combined heat and power plants.

At Avedøre Power Station’s straw-fired boiler, the process has the capability to regenerate 35MW of surplus heat. At Asnæs, it can regenerate approximately 50MW of surplus heat.

This is equivalent to the annual district heating consumption of approximately 11,000 and 20,000 households in Denmark, respectively.

Offtake Agreement

In March 2021, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Ørsted, Aker Carbon Capture, and Microsoft to explore new avenues in order to expedite the development of carbon capture and storage at Danish biomass-fired heat and power plants.

Microsoft has agreed to purchase 2.76 million tonnes of high-quality and durable carbon removal over 11 years from biogenic carbon captured at the Asnæs Power Station.

The agreement is one of the largest carbon removal offtake agreements by volume in the world.