Reuters: Kenya gears up for direct air capture push in 'Great Carbon Valley'

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Kenya gears up for direct air capture push in ‘Great Carbon Valley’

By Ben Payton
November 13, 2023 5:49 AM EST

Summary

• From 2024, Project Hummingbird's 100 DAC machines to each remove 10 metric tons of CO2 annually
• Abundant geothermal energy to cover 85% of power requirements of direct air capture machines
• Captured CO2 premanently stored by mineralising and pumping it into porous basaltic rock
• Klarna among companies announcing intention to purchase Project Hummingbird carbon credits

November 8 - Near the Kenyan town of Naivasha in the East African Rift Valley, a small army of machines is slowly being assembled. Their appearance, resembling air conditioning units, is inconspicuous, but their mission is of potentially epochal importance: to suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so it can be mineralised and stored forever deep below the surface of the Earth.

One hundred of these machines, each designed to remove 10 metric tons of CO2 annually, will begin operating next year in the world’s second largest pilot of direct air capture (DAC) technology. The effort, known as Project Hummingbird, is being developed by two startups, Octavia Carbon, which is building the DAC machines, and Cella Mineral Storage, which will inject mineralised carbon deep into the Rift Valley.

The two companies are convinced they have come to the right place to test and scale carbon capture and mineralisation technologies.

“There is no other place in the world like Kenya to build a direct air capture industry,” says Martin Freimüller, Octavia Carbon’s chief executive. He cites the geological conditions along the Rift Valley, which lend themselves to storing mineralised carbon, along with its abundant supply of geothermal energy as key reasons for launching his venture in Kenya.

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