Key take-aways:
- CapturePoint will safely and permanently store CO₂ removed from the atmosphere in its Central Louisiana Regional Carbon Storage Hub (CPS CENLA Hub)
- The partnership reflects another step forward in Climeworks’ plans to build a megaton Direct Air Capture hub in the U.S.
Cypress DAC Hub will be one of the largest DAC hubs globally. Climeworks aims to secure 50 million in private investment, which will match the initial 50 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.
This project is expected to create 140 direct new jobs, with an average annual salary of $123,000. Additionally, Climeworks anticipates that the construction phase will support 800 jobs. Louisiana Economic Development estimates that the project will also generate 329 indirect new jobs, resulting in a total of 469 new jobs in the Southwest Region. The new facility, known as Project Cypress Southwest, is a joint effort between Climeworks and independent nonprofit science organization Battelle. It would be built on private land next to the Port of Vinton – according to Louisiana Economic Development
Calcasieu Parish, La. October 23, 2024 – Climeworks, a leader in carbon removal via Direct Air Capture (DAC), has announced another milestone for its portion of the Louisiana-based Project Cypress DAC Hub. Climeworks will partner with CapturePoint Solutions LLC for the transport and storage of CO₂ captured at Climeworks’ facility in Southwest Louisiana. The partnership reflects a critical step forward in realizing what will be a million-ton Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hub.
CapturePoint will take the captured carbon dioxide from Climeworks’ Calcasieu Parish-based DAC facility and transport it for permanent deep underground storage in Class VI wells at CapturePoint’s Central Louisiana Regional Carbon Storage Hub (CENLA Hub) in Vernon and Rapides Parishes. The CENLA Hub is one of the largest onshore deep underground carbon storage centers under development in the United States with the capacity to permanently secure millions of tons of CO₂.
Climeworks’ flagship plant in Iceland, Orca, is the world’s first commercial Direct Air Capture and Storage (DAC+S) facility. In May of this year, Climeworks opened Mammoth, its second and largest commercial DAC+S plant, which is ten times larger than its predecessor.
“Climeworks is pioneering commercial scale Direct Air Capture projects, and the team at CapturePoint is excited to ensure that the CO₂ their Project Cypress facility captures from the atmosphere of southwestern Louisiana is permanently secured deep underground in our Central Louisiana Regional Carbon Storage Hub,” said Tracy Evans, CEO of CapturePoint. “The uniquely reliable geology of the CENLA Hub creates the potential for one of the safest and largest carbon management sites in the United States, attracting leading-edge companies like Climeworks that are driving the next generation economy of Louisiana.”
The Project Cypress Southwest Hub will be built out in two stages. The first is projected to have a nameplate capacity of approximately 300,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year and the second will have a projected capacity of one megaton – or one million tons. Climeworks’ portion of the Project Cypress DAC Hub will also usher in economic incentives for Southwest Louisiana.
Project Cypress is part of the Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) Regional Direct Air Capture (DAC) Hubs program. With an initial award of more than USD 50 million from OCED out of the total federal cost share of up to USD 550 million, Project Cypress partners are mobilizing an additional USD 51 million in private investment in this initial phase of the project.
Source: Climeworks Press Release
