South Africa is Africa’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, releasing an estimated 470-million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, with coal providing the bulk of its electricity.
Geological mapping at the country’s first CCS site, where it plans to inject vast quantities of carbon dioxide deep underground, has started.
The project will link a pipeline transporting compressed carbon dioxidefrom major emitting sources, such as Secunda, directly to the identified injection site that is overlain with an “impermeable rock cap”. CGS plans to test the feasibility of injecting between 10.000 to 50.000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year to a depth of at least 1 km. South Africa has about 150 Gt of potential storage capacity, mainly in offshore basins on the east and west coast.