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‘Gassum’ one of nine huge underground locations where Denmark wants to store CO2

Loïc Padovani
April 4th, 2023


This article is more than 1 year old.

The appropriately-named village in east Jutland could take a total of 600 million tonnes

The Danish underground will get more CO2 than moles soon (photo: John Pain/Flickr)

Denmark is busy identifying underground areas where it can store CO2, reports DR.

For example, the appropriately named Gassum in east Jutland, a village with 414 inhabitants, is one of nine possible CO2 storage facilities identified by GEUS (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland).

Gassum “corresponds to Denmark’s CO2 emissions for about 60 years”, enthused GEUS geologist Nina Skaarup – the equivalent of 600 million tonnes – while another project in Stenlille in west Zealand could capture another 500,000 tonnes.

Data is still being collected, but it is believed the mapping process will be completed by the summer.

Other countries too
Besides Gassum, eight other areas are under consideration. Five of them are on land and the other three in the North Sea.

READ ALSO: CO2 pumped underground for the first time

The storage facilities could welcome a total of 2 billion tonnes of CO2, according to GEUS, and there is even talk of storing CO2 for other countries.

“It could be good income for Danish companies and the Danish state to store other countries’ CO2 underground,” estimates Anne Højer Simonsen, the head of climate policy at Dansk Industri.

An interesting solution for the future
Denmark has pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by 70 percent by 2030, and the Climate and Energy Ministry has high hopes for the project.

However, CO2 storage is still a new technology in the country, and there are challenges involved in capturing, transporting and storing it.

Vestforbrændingen, Aalborg Portland and Ørsted are among the companies interested in acquiring tenders to store CO2, and it is rumoured the Energistyrelsen energy agency could sign a contract with one of these companies in May.


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