The world’s first wind power CO2 capture facility

Concho, the world’s first wind-powered CO2 capture facility, will be built in Tom Green County, Texas, Interesting Engineering reported on November 22.

The facility uses direct air capture (DAC) technology, which captures CO2 directly in the surrounding air, thereby reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. This can help fight climate change and slow global warming.

Unlike other carbon capture methods that need to be applied at the source of carbon emissions, DAC can be deployed anywhere, even land that cannot be farmed. However, because the CO2 concentration in the air is much thinner, this technology consumes more energy and also increases costs. To overcome this problem, the Concho project is testing DAC deployment with cheap energy from a wind farm.

Concho is a joint project between Return Carbon and Verified Carbon, two companies involved in the clean energy transition in the Netherlands and the US. The project will use DAC equipment from Skytree Stratus, a spin-off of the European Space Agency (ESA). Skytree Stratus’ patented equipment is easy to install at any scale and can be upgraded on-site as the captured material evolves over time. The entire capture facility will draw power from a nearby wind farm built and operated by power producer Greenalia.

In the first phase, Concho aims to remove 50,000 tons of CO2 per year by 2030. But with expansion plans, the project could remove 500,000 tons of CO2 per year from the atmosphere. CO2 extracted from the air will be stored underground. The project will also generate carbon credits to sell on the market.

The world’s first wind-powered carbon capture project benefits both clean energy producers and DAC technology. DAC ensures energy consumption from the wind farm and receives cheap electricity. Meanwhile, carbon credits help move towards a greener future.