Naivasha, Nakuru
Kenya
Introduction:
Project Hummingbird is the Global South’s first Direct Air Capture (DAC) + Storage plant, located in Naivasha along the Kenyan Rift Valley. It leverages Kenya's renewable energy, geology, and exceptional talent pool to foster climate innovation in Kenya and Africa. This project not only has the potential to drastically lower DAC technology costs but also serves as a catalyst for socioeconomic development within the deployment area. As such, it will create opportunities for local pastoralist communities devastated by climate change. Project Hummingbird will also spark sustainable growth in Kenya by tapping waste geothermal heat and electricity, enabling Kenya’s further renewables build-out. This will lower the cost of electricity for consumers and industry and increase Kenyans' access to affordable electricity.
Learn more: Africa's Great Carbon Valley -- and How to End Energy Poverty | James Irungu Mwangi | TED
Background:
DAC is a highly scalable solution for atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Removal and plays a crucial role in all scenarios to limit global warming to 1.5°C. In essence, DAC technology captures CO2 by moving atmospheric air through a CO2-selective filter. Once this filter is saturated, captured CO2 is typically released by heating the filter material, regenerating the CO2 filter for future use. This CO2 can then be stored permanently and safely in underground geological reservoirs by either trapping it with a cap rock and / or injecting it into reactive rock pores for mineralization, i.e., turning CO2 into rock.
Method:
Octavia Carbon has designed its technology to utilize Kenya's unique resources to overcome the challenges associated with DAC’s traditionally high energy intensity. Given that this heat energy accounts for ~85% of the energy that Octavia Carbon’s approach uses, their method drastically lowers the electricity needed for DAC. This potentially lowers the operating costs of the DAC technology rapidly down the cost curve. Leveraging Kenya’s innovative, young, and vast pool of talents, they are developing their technology uniquely modularly. This allows for fast iteration and learning, which has already halved their manufacturing costs, making their overall costs amongst the world’s lowest.
A Kenyan CO2 Mineralisation Company will oversee the safe storage of the captured CO2. The CO2 will be injected into porous basalt rock formations abundant in the Kenyan Rift Valley, where it will be permanently stored by turning it into stable carbonate minerals, i.e., rocks.
The project will adhere to Puro.Earth’s Geologically Stored Carbon (GSC) standard is recognized as the industry-leading monitoring, reporting, and verification protocol for DAC+Storage projects. Given Puro.Earth’s accreditation under the International Carbon Removal and Offsetting Alliance (ICROA), Project Hummingbird will likely be the world’s first DAC+Storage project validated under an ICROA-accredited standard, a unique mark of quality.
Kenya is increasingly recognized as the world’s best place for DAC not only due to its geothermal capacity, geology, and talent but also because its grid is powered by ~93% renewable energy. For DAC to have tangible climate benefits, it needs to be deployed in regions with high renewables penetration, not to divert sparse renewables capacity away from retiring fossil fuel power plants. Kenya has abundant but excess renewables capacity, where about ~1,000 MWh of geothermal electricity is curtailed daily for lack of industrial demand. By tapping this waste capacity, Project Hummingbird and its future scale-ups will contribute to the economic viability of geothermal power in Kenya and attract more investments in the sector. Eliminating waste capacity will make it more affordable for end consumers. This will ultimately accelerate the Kenyan government's target of building a 100% renewable grid by 2030 and extend electricity access to all Kenyans.
Project Goals:
- CO2e to be removed: 10,000 tons over the project’s 10-year lifetime
- Social Impact: Job creation & sustainable development initiatives in local communities whose traditional pastoralist livelihoods are heavily affected by climate change-related disasters.
- Education: Establishing a DAC hub in Kenya that will promote extensive research and innovation in the industry. This will be achieved through collaborations with local universities and research institutions, as well as organizing educational workshops and training programs.
More Info:
- Project developers: Octavia Carbon
- Notable customers: [ Klimate.co,Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund, Terraset]
Additional Information:
Octavia Carbon is currently building the DAC capacity for Project Hummingbird by manufacturing at-scale DAC machines. Project Hummingbird Phase 0 has been completed, with 4 DAC machines already on site, with pre-commissioning tests currently underway. Upon completion of the subsequent phases, the machines are expected to produce CO2 for safe and permanent storage for at least 10 years, so credits are offered up to H1-’34. As is, their carbon removal credits, soon to be generated by their pilot Direct Air Capture (DAC) + Storage facility, have achieved an esteemed Ae/AAA rating from BeZero Carbon, underscoring the quality of credits they aim to deliver. A substantial portion of the project’s credits, though not all, will be offered on the Cloverly platform.