On 22 September, the ACCSESS project was involved in two EU events by hosting a Sustainable Energy Day Event in Oslo and participating in a H2020 Project workshop in Brussels.

European collaboration is at the heart of the ACCSESS project. Not only is it funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, but its consortium is also made up of 18 partners, representing eight European countries. The project’s European core was very evident in September, when it was involved in two EU events in two different countries on the same day.

First ACCSESS Open Event held in Oslo

Organised by SINTEF and Hafslund Oslo Celsio, both partners in ACCSESS, the ACCSESS Open Oslo Event was the first of four open events to be coordinated by the project. It was hosted by the Delegation of the European Union to Norway, and took place both at their offices in Oslo and online.

“Today’s conference is representative of [Norway and the EU’s] cooperation, and what we can achieve together: research, industries and authorities,” said EU Ambassador to Norway Nicolas de La Grandville in his opening speech. “Our common climate ambitions of climate neutrality will require drastic emission cuts and carbon removals from all our industries. Carbon dioxide removal technologies, including carbon capture, use and storage, are important tools to this end.”

The event was also a registered Sustainable Energy Day under the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy and European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Energy (CINEA). EUSEW is the biggest event dedicated to renewable and efficient energy use in Europe, and Sustainable Energy Days take place anywhere in the world and promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

CCS as a key to unlocking urban carbon neutrality

The theme of the event was “CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) as a key to unlocking urban carbon neutrality”, and focused on the challenges and opportunities associated with curbing industrial CO2 emissions, and how they relate to cities’ climate adaptation and mitigation plans.

Several ACCSESS partners participated, including Stora Enso, HeidelbergCement, Fraunhofer IAO, Saipem, Chalmers and ETH Zürich. Governmental figures from the EU and Norway as well as representatives from the cities of Oslo and Zürich and the port of Gothenburg also took part.

The event was sectioned into three main focus areas:

1. The status of CCS in the world, and the role it will play in our ability to reach our climate targets,
2. Potential paths to achieving climate-neutral cities, and
3. What it will take to enable CCS at the necessary scale.

Each section featured a mixture of presentations and panel discussions, with opportunities for the audience to engage with the speakers and ask questions. Click here to view all the presentations from the speakers.

“I couldn’t be happier with how the event went,” said ACCSESS Project Coordinator Kristin Jordal from SINTEF. “We had a good mix of panellists and speakers, which fostered some really productive discussions about industrial CCS and urban development. I was particularly happy to see ambassadors from several European countries in attendance – it really demonstrates the interest in CCS as a tool for decarbonising cities in Europe and beyond.”

The opportunity to see CCS in action  

Following the meeting, in-person participants were invited on a tour of Hafslund Oslo Celsio’s waste-to-energy plant Klemetsrud, where their pilot rig is currently in operation capturing CO₂ with Saipem’s CO₂ Solutions technology, with the goal of testing improved CO₂ capture.

Once this test campaign has concluded, both Celsio’s pilot rig and Saipem’s CO2 Solutions technology will be transported to Technology Centre Mongstad for additional tests with a rotary packed bed absorber from PROSPIN.

“It is great to be able to bring so many people from across Europe to our waste-to-energy plant at Klemetsrud,” said Markus Sebastian Hole, Public Affairs Manager at Hafslund Oslo Celsio. “We hope to be a blueprint for other cities to follow on how to provide environmentally and climate-friendly waste handling, district heating production and carbon removals at scale.”

Klemetsrud will also be the site of the first realisation of CCS at a waste-to-energy plant in the world: financing for this endeavour was secured in June earlier this year construction has already started. The project is due to be completed by 2026, and will cut Oslo’s emissions by 17%.

Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) and Alternative Fuels

While the open event was underway in Oslo, ACCSESS Project Manager Rubén M. Montañés from SINTEF was representing the project at the Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) and Alternative Fuels workshop, also organised by CINEA.

The workshop is an annual, one-day event that enables H2020 projects working to solve the same climate problem, in this case CO₂ emissions, to gather in order to provide updates and share expertise. It also facilitates opportunities for potential collaboration between projects.

“Pan-European cooperation is essential if we are to achieve our ambitious net-zero targets,” wrote Rubén afterwards on his LinkedIn page. “It was great to represent the ACCSESS project and its consortium, get an overview of the ongoing funded research and innovation projects, and engage in panel discussions with the aim of looking for project synergies and conveying key messages and open learnings from our project.”

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