Aker Carbon Capture has been awarded a large-scale carbon capture project by Ørsted, a global leader in renewable energy, for its Ørsted Kalundborg Hub in Denmark. As the carbon capture provider, Aker Carbon Capture will deliver five Just Catch units, additional equipment such as liquefaction systems, and temporary CO2 storage and on-/offloading facilities with an expected total contract value above EUR 200 million. The carbon capture facilities will be delivered to Ørsted's wood chip-fired Asnæs Power Station and the Avedøre Power Station's straw-fired boiler and combined will have an installed design capture capacity of 500,000 tonnes CO2 per year.
This follows the 20-year contract award to Ørsted by the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) for its carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. The funding will enable the realization of the first full-scale carbon capture and storage value chain in Denmark, delivered by Ørsted, Aker Carbon Capture, Microsoft and Northern Lights.
"We are proud of our partnership with Ørsted and see this project as a milestone for our Just Catch standardized concept, a modular and configurable offering that enables time-efficient deployment of carbon capture units to the mid-scale emitter market. We look forward to working with Ørsted and contributing to their decarbonization journey and to Denmark's CCUS ambitions," said Valborg Lundegaard, Aker Carbon Capture's Chief Executive Officer.
"Capture and storage of biogenic CO2 is an important tool to mitigate climate change, and we look forward to initiating the work. We have established a strong partnership which will secure that we comply with the tight timeline set in the Danish tender, and at the beginning of 2026, two of our combined heat and power plants will capture and store approx. 430,000 tonnes of biogenic CO2 every year," said Ole Thomsen, Senior Vice President and Head of Ørsted's Bioenergy business.
"The signing of this contract represents the beginning of a groundbreaking CCUS project covering the entire value chain. This collaboration brings together key stakeholders, including government bodies, technology providers, industry leaders, and carbon credit buyers, with the aim of scaling up CCUS deployment and achieving net-zero emissions in hard-to-abate industries. Aker Carbon Capture's standardized solutions, including Just Catch, and strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as Ørsted and Microsoft, will create significant growth opportunities in the future," said Kristian M. Røkke, Aker Carbon Capture's Chairperson.
The collaboration established in 2021 between Aker Carbon Capture, Ørsted and Microsoft is now bringing concrete climate action through biogenic carbon capture and storage, delivering large-scale carbon removal.
Ørsted is a global energy major and a leading provider of sustainable bioenergy solutions in Denmark. The company aims to be carbon neutral by 2025. Earlier this year, Ørsted and Aker Carbon Capture signed a Letter of Intent for the delivery of two Just Catch units, which will form part of the Ørsted Kalundborg Hub (see Aker Carbon Capture's announcement on 3 January 2023).
In this landmark project, Microsoft will purchase several million tonnes of high-quality, durable carbon removal over more than ten years from the capture and storage of biogenic carbon from Ørsted's project. This represents one of the world's largest carbon removal offtake agreements by volume to date.
The project is subject to signing of the funding contract by Ørsted and the DEA, which completes the funding tender procedure. Such signing is expected to take place shortly after expiry of the mandatory standstill period.