#### **Introduction:** Project Hummingbird is the Global South’s first Direct Air Capture (DAC) + Storage plant, located in Naivasha in 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 the costs of DAC technology, 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 can also spark sustainable growth in Kenya by tapping waste geothermal heat and electricity and so enabling Kenya’s further renewables build-out. This will lower the cost of electricity for consumers and industry and can pay for access to electricity for Kenyans who currently do not have it. ###### **Learn more:** [Africa's Great Carbon Valley -- and How to End Energy Poverty | James Irungu Mwangi | TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/james_irungu_mwangi_africa_s_great_carbon_valley_and_how_to_end_energy_poverty) #### **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. Its proprietary CO2 filter regenerates at 60-70°C, the lowest temperatures in the DAC industry, allowing it to use Kenya’s plentiful geothermal waste heat uniquely well for its process. Given that this heat energy accounts for ~85% of energy that Octavia Carbon’s approach uses, their method drastically lowers the electricity needed for DAC, and so has the potential to make DAC technology rapidly fall down the cost curve. Leveraging Kenya’s well-educated and abundant workforce, they are also developing their technology at a uniquely modular scale (of just 10 tons of CO2 captured per year in each module). That allows for fast iteration & learning, which has already halved their manufacturing costs from 2022-23, so that their overall costs are now amongst the world’s lowest. Cella Mineral Storage will oversee the safe storage of CO2. Captured CO2 will be injected into porous basalt rock formations where CO2 can safely and permanently be stored by turning it into carbonate minerals, i.e., rocks. The project will adhere to Puro.Earth’s Geologically Stored Carbon (GSC) standard, 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 because of 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 run in places with high renewables penetration to not divert sparse renewables capacity away from retiring fossil fuel power plants. Kenya is such a place, with not just abundant, but excess renewables capacity, where about ~1,000 MWh of geothermal electricity is curtailed every day for lack of industrial demand. By tapping this waste capacity, Project Hummingbird and its successor projects will help to make geothermal power more economic in Kenya, and by eliminating waste capacity, more affordable to end consumers. This can help the Kenyan government achieve its target of building a 100% renewable grid by 2030, and to extend electricity access to all Kenyans. For this reason, Project Hummingbird enjoys strong support from Kenyan policymakers, with Kenya’s Climate Change Envoy Dr. Ali Mohamed personally acting as an advisor to Octavia Carbon. #### **Project Goals:** - **CO2e to be removed:** 10,000 metric 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 induced drought. - **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](https://www.octaviacarbon.com) x [Cella Mineral Storage](https://www.cellamineralstorage.com) - **Notable customers:** [Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund](https://www.cellamineralstorage.com) #### **Additional Information:** Octavia Carbon is currently building the DAC capacity for Project Hummingbird by manufacturing at-scale DAC machines. The project will house 100 DAC machines of their latest design, Lenana, which has a capture capacity of 10 tons of C02 per year. These will be installed on site with Cella Mineral Storage from H1-’24, where they will produce CO2 that will be injected as part of CO2 mineralization trials. From H2-’24, Project Hummingbird will start producing commercial carbon credits. The installed hardware is expected to produce CO2 for safe storage for at least 10 years, so credits are offered up to H1-’34. A substantial portion of the project’s credits, though not all of them, will be on offer on the Cloverly platform.