Decarbonisation developer Storegga and Japanese investment firm Mitsui have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on commercialisation of Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology, supporting the development of the UK’s first such facility in North East Scotland.
Mitsui is already an investor in Storegga and the memorandum marks a closer working relationship to realise the first large-scale DAC facility in Europe, with the potential to extract one million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually.
Once developed, the project aims to provide a model for deploying the carbon reversal technology elsewhere in the UK to support net zero targets.
Early customers of the facility will include Virgin Atlantic.
The captured CO2 will be transported to the Acorn Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) project for permanent geological storage in depleted North Sea oil and gas reservoirs and saline aquifers.
The Acorn project is currently in the engineering and design phase of development and is planned to be operational in the mid 2020s.
Nick Cooper, chief executive at Storegga, said: “The UK’s decarbonisation knowledge and technology are highly attractive to the world’s leading international infrastructure developers.
“Investor appetite is strong but the path to decarbonisation is complex and will require the best minds from around the world, working together.
“Mitsui’s commitment says a lot about the quality of endeavour of the UK decarbonisation industry, and we look forward to working with the UK Government on a favourable regulatory regime that sets us up for future success.”
As part of the agreement, Mitsui will share technical knowledge and explore opportunities to partner businesses around the world. It will consider and assess the possibility of co-investing in offtake credits from the DAC project.
Toru Matsui, chief operating officer of the energy solutions business unit at Mitsui, said: “Since our initial investment in March 2021, we have been closely supporting Storegga to grow its businesses with our expertise in the upstream energy sector and our extensive global network.
“Being a negative emissions technology, DAC projects can generate carbon credits which will be critical in offsetting emissions from hard-to-abate sectors globally and achieving net-carbon zero targets.”
Storegga’s first DAC facility will be built close to the Acorn CO2 Transport and Storage system.
In its initial phase, the business will sell carbon credits to large organisations to offset their carbon emissions. This will need to be supported by a regulated carbon credit mechanism.
The UK Government is currently in consultation on the appropriate business models to support direct air capture in the UK.
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