Endesa is committed to leading the way in developing technologies to reduce CO2 emissions through carbon capture and storage projects:
• The Compostilla-OXY-CFB-300 project is a global programme geared to researching carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that brings together public research initiatives for combating climate change and Endesa's private initiatives. The project is the only one of its type chosen by the EU to develop oxy-combustion technology in circulating fluid bed plants storing CO2 in deep saline aquifers. It has been given an Euro 180 million grant for the initial technology validation phase and its development is backed by the European Energy Program for Recovery (PEER).
In the first phase a 30MW plant to demonstrate the feasibility of the capture technology and an experimental CO2 storage plant are being built, and potential sites in Spain for industrial CO2 storage are being identified and characterised. The objective is to validate the viability of the selected technologies on a commercial scale, so that in the future, fossil fuel power plants can be replaced and CO2 emissions into the atmosphere reduced as part of the fight against climate change.
• “Reduce CO2 in Compostilla” project. Endesa has opened the first plant in Spain to capture CO2 by chemical absorption and the first CCS facility integrated into a thermal power plant at Compostilla (León). The plant has a processing capacity of 800M3/h of combustion gases and has a capture capacity of 3-5 tonnes of CO2 per day with efficiency of 90%.
• La Pereda project. Endesa, in partnership with Hunosa and the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC), has built a 1MW carbon capture pilot plant in La Pereda (Mieres, Asturias), next to La Pereda thermal plant owned by HUNOSA. The plant is designed to develop carbonation cycle technology to capture CO2 using limestone as a sorbent. It has a capture capacity of 8 tonnes of CO2 per day, with efficiency of around 90%.
• Pilot plant to capture CO2 using microalgae. Endesa first used microalgae CO2 fixation technology in the CENIT CO2 project. As a result of this work, a Spanish technology pilot plant was designed and built (the biggest in Europe of its kind with capacity to capture up to 20 tonnes of CO2 a year).