Tom Green County in Texas will build the world's very first wind-powered carbon capture facility. Dubbed Project Concho, the facility aims to capture 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually beyond 2030 and will generate verified carbon credits of significant value, a press release said.
As the name suggests, direct air capture (DAC) technology allows for the capture of carbon directly from the air in an attempt to reduce the circulating CO2 in the atmosphere. This can help combat climate change and slow down the planet's warming. Unlike other carbon capture approaches, which need to be applied at the source of carbon emissions, DAC can be deployed anywhere, even on non-arable land. Since CO2 concentration is far more diluted in the air, the technology is more energy-intensive to execute while also making it expensive.
Project Concho is a collaborative effort between Return Carbon and Verified Carbon, two companies involved in the clean energy transition but operating in different parts of the world. Return Carbon is part of the Return Group from the Netherlands, whose portfolio includes solar and energy storage projects. Verified Carbon is a spin-off from the University of Texas at Austin that is looking to deploy DAC technology while also creating new revenue opportunities.
The project will be executed in Concho Valley, Tom Green County. It will include DAC equipment by Skytree Stratus. A spin-off from the European Space Agency (ESA), Skytree's patented equipment is easy to set up for any scale of DAC project while also being field upgradable as capture materials evolve over time.
The entire project will be powered by a nearby wind farm built and operated by Greenalia, an independent power producer focusing on sustainable power generation and storage. "Deploying DAC at scale is necessary to drive down costs across the value chain and achieve greater impact, and we are thrilled to provide the technology needed to bring Project Concho to life," said Elena Nikonova, VP of North America at Skytree in a press release.
In its first phase, the project aims to remove 50,000 tons of CO2 annually by 2030, but with expansion plans, it could potentially remove 500,000 tons of CO2 every year.
The CO2 removed from the air will be stored underground, and verifiable carbon credits will be generated to be sold in the carbon markets. The blueprint for future project.
"Project Concho brings significant benefits to the Concho Valley, providing new economic opportunities for landowners beyond traditional activities," said Coleman White, co-founder of Verified Carbon in the press release.
The projects allow us to keep traditional land use while also benefiting from new sources of income and helping support local and environmental initiatives.