Climeworks planning major project in Kenya

The Zurich-based start-up Climeworks has agreed a strategic partnership with Great Carbon Valley (GCV) in Kenya. Together, the two partners intend to implement a range of projects in Kenya, for which CO2 will be filtered out of the air and stored below ground. To this end, Climeworks will deploy a technology that was originally developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH).

The plans envisage that the first joint Climeworks and GCV plant could be operational by 2028, further details of which can be found in a press release. When the joint project has been realized in full, the partners should be able to remove up to one million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, which would then be stored underground.

As a first step, GCV will now explore storage and energy options in Kenya with various partners. Thereafter, Climeworks and GCV are keen to start work on constructing the first facility, provided that local energy and storage infrastructure can be developed and implemented The partners are committed to using local labor and supply chains within the framework of their cooperation.

For the project in Kenya, Climeworks will leverage its experience from a similar project completed in Iceland, where a plant from the capture and storage of CO2 is already in operation. As Climeworks writes in the press release, “Kenya’s Great Rift Valley provides the geological potential for safe and permanent CO2 mineralization in the deep underground, similar to Iceland's proven model”.

GCV specializes in the realization of carbon capture projects across the whole of Africa. With this latest project, it is moving a step closer to its goal of establishing a network of carbon capture plants throughout the continent of Africa. ce/ssp