Our neighbours in Finland have excellent opportunities and the relevant expertise to capture biogenic carbon dioxide from large sources of it in forestry and energy. Latvia, too, should be working in this direction.
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (hereinafter CCUS) is essential if climate targets are to be met. A new report by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) highlights the decisive role of infrastructure in developing the CCUS value chain. Shared infrastructure significantly reduces the costs associated with each individual project and is the key factor in bringing a wider range of carbon dioxide flows into the broader industrial ecosystem, which is geared towards creating sustainable products and permanently storing carbon dioxide.
Finland has excellent opportunities to capture biogenic carbon dioxide from the forestry and energy sectors. Around 30 million tonnes of biogenic CO₂ are generated every year.
The Finns are already running several carbon capture projects. The latest announcement about carbon capture and storage was made public at the end of September. Finland is a long way from Europe's CO₂ storage sites and from future CO₂ markets, so the use of shared logistics solutions is particularly important when taking decisions on investment and on the development of the industrial ecosystem, a point that experts in this field in Finland stress in particular.
A comprehensive report
The Finnish company “Bioenergia” commissioned, and the research group VTT prepared, the report “CO₂ logistics prospects in Finland for CCUS”, which examines the potential of CO₂ logistics to advance carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) value chains in Finland.
Carbon dioxide infrastructure comprises the necessary CO₂ temporary storage facilities inland and on the coast, as well as transport by pipeline, rail or lorry.
In the permanent storage value chain, transport to the final destination takes place by ship. The importance of infrastructure stands out in projects where the CO₂ cannot be used or stored close to the capture site.
The study was carried out this year. It was funded by Gasgrid Vetyverkot, Finnsementti, Fortum Power and Heat, Helen, Keravan Energia, Oulun Energia, Tampereen Energia, Vantaan Energia.
Finland has a great many carbon dioxide capture projects. Attention must be paid to CO₂ infrastructure.
Regional carbon hubs
The report identified nine regional CO₂ hubs that could make use of shared infrastructure. Their carbon capture capacity is around 25.2 million tonnes of CO₂ a year. On the basis of these CO₂ hubs, three different scenarios have been drawn up for CCUS infrastructure and logistics needs up to 2040.
Sharing common infrastructure would cut project costs by an average of 30% and at the same time allow more projects to take part in carbon capture, utilisation or storage. Finland has considerable scope to make use of existing infrastructure. Using the current rail network to transport CO₂ could be a cost-effective option. Pipeline transport is a cheaper alternative over shorter distances where capacity is large enough, as the specialists in the VTT research group also point out.
Shared infrastructure cuts costs
Investment costs for infrastructure across the system range from EUR 3.7 billion to EUR 4.7 billion in these scenarios. The lowest costs are in the utilisation-focused scenario, where less transport is required.
The report stresses that Finland's potential for capturing biogenic CO₂, for example through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), is considerably greater than the needs of the planned CO₂ utilisation projects and the storage potential available through mineralisation.
The quantity of CO₂ is therefore not a constraint on a substantial expansion of utilisation and storage value chains. It is certainly worth encouraging Latvian specialists and experts to draw up scenarios for our country as well, where that is possible. It is clear that the Finns are moving ahead rapidly in the field of carbon capture, utilisation and storage.