The efficiency and environmental sustainability of district heating services in the greater Copenhagen, Denmark, area are set to improve with the planned construction of a heat recovery and carbon dioxide capture facility at the Avedøre Power Station.

Advedøre Power Station. Source: Ørsted

Fueled by locally sourced straw, the power system will generate heat and power and, beginning in 2026, the biogenic carbon emitted will be captured and stored. About 34 MW of surplus heat will be generated by the carbon capture process and around 19 MW from the flue gas condensation process. Via a heat pump, the surplus heat captured by these processes will be upgraded for district heating via a heat pump, thereby utilizing the same energy twice. This surplus heat supply of 53 MW corresponds to the annual district heating consumption of around 16,000 Danish households.

The project undertaken by Ørsted and Danish district heating providers VEKS and CTR Denmark will capture 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide/year.

“By integrating carbon capture with heat generation at the power station, we can make the most of the energy in the fuel and supply cheap, green district heating to the Greater Copenhagen area, while minimizing our own energy consumption for carbon capture,” said Ole Thomsen, senior vice president and head of bioenergy at Ørsted.