Hellisheidi, Iceland
“Our vision is to inspire one billion people to remove carbon dioxide from the air,” states Daniel Egger, Head of Marketing at Climeworks.
“That is why we required an inspiring design. And we got it. The design presented by designaffairs bridges the gap between nature and technology, showing that direct air capture complements natural solutions in the fight against climate change.”
The German design studio designaffairs, together with Jan Wurzbacher and Christoph Gebald co-founders of the Swiss firm Climeworks, have big ambitions: they have developed a direct air capture technology that removes carbon dioxide directly from the air.
And their project has earned them immediate recognition with recent 2021 Green Good Design® Award from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum.
Their recent endeavour is “Orca”—the name of Climeworks’ latest direct air capture plant in Iceland.
Orca will take carbon dioxide removal to the next level: it combines Climeworks’ direct air capture technology with the underground storage of carbon dioxide provided by Carbfix on a much larger scale, capturing 4,000 tons/yr of CO2.
In addition to emissions reduction efforts, which prevent new CO2from entering the atmosphere, climate scientists agree that removing historic emissions is crucial to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
To restore a healthy balance of CO2 in the atmosphere, pure CO2 removal solutions are needed at large scale.
By providing accessible, permanent and fully measurable CO2 removal, Orca sets high standards for the emerging CO2-removal industry.
Orca will permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere on behalf of corporations or institutions, as well as individuals.
A unique subscription-based program enables anyone to join the innovative community of nearly 3,000 pioneers from 54 countries around the world who are already leading the way to a climate-positive world.
By scaling up its direct air capture and storage technology, Climeworks is making a permanent CO2 removal solution more easily attainable.
“Breaking ground on the construction of Orca marks an exciting milestone for Climeworks and an important step in the fight against climate change,” says Christoph Gebald, co-CEO and co-founder of Climeworks.
“Climeworks’ new plant Orca demonstrates that scalable, pure carbon dioxide removal via direct air capture is possible.”
“And we are excited to be a vital part in kick-starting the carbon dioxide removal industry.”
The rapid construction of Orca has just started: it will take six months and comprises two phases.
The rapid construction of Orca has just started: it will take six months and comprises two phases.
Due to the modular nature of the Climeworks technology, it is possible to achieve short construction times, which will be a key enabler for scaling the technology in the future.
The construction of Orca comprises two phases: phase one started in October of 2020 and includes the infrastructure and the foundation for the new generation of Climeworks’ CO2collectors.
Phase two involves the installation of the plant and machinery in Iceland and is expected to be finalized by spring 2021.
Orca, once complete, will remove over 4,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere every year, making it the largest direct air capture and storage plant to date.
Orca is being built close to ON Power’s Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant in Iceland, meaning that all the energy required to run the direct air capture process at Orca will come from purely renewable sources.
Underground storage of CO2 is performed by Carbfix.
Project: Climeworks’ CO2 removal plant Orca
Designers: designaffairs GmbH
Manufacturer: Climeworks AG
