The following is a re-post of a news item from the Skytree website

When fully operational, Project Concho will initially capture 30,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually, with plans to scale up to 500,000 tonnes per year. The project represents a significant step forward for the carbon removal industry. It is based on Skytree’s flagship Stratus DAC Park concept, allowing seamless scaling and maximum uptime.

Collaborative effort to scale carbon removal

The project is a collaboration between renewable energy leader Greenalia and carbon capture project developers Return Carbon and Verified Carbon, with Skytree enabling the project through its advanced DAC technology. Greenalia will construct a new wind farm to power the facility, ensuring 100% renewable energy use for carbon removal operations.

The DAC hub guarantees a reliable “offloading” pathway whereby excess wind energy can be readily utilised – a critical factor in determining the size and viability of a renewable energy project – in return for access to low-cost energy, one of the challenges associated with large-scale DAC projects. This symbiotic arrangement sets the stage for future joint wind-DAC projects that enable greater scale, lower risk, and reduced costs for both wind and DAC.

“Project Concho is a first-of-its-kind collaboration that opens the door to even more ambitious and transformative carbon removal projects,” said Elena Nikonova, VP North America at Skytree. “Deploying DAC at a scale is necessary to drive down costs across the value chain and achieve greater impact and we are thrilled to provide the technology needed to bring Project Concho to life.”

Enabling efficient and scalable carbon removal

The facility will feature an array of Skytree Stratus units connected to a DAC Park. Skytree’s patented DAC technology continuously optimises energy use and drives down energy consumption while ensuring optimal CO₂ capture efficiency. In addition, its modular design and 24/7 uptime guarantee made it a logical choice for a large-scale project like Project Concho in which units will be added over time.

“We selected Skytree as the technology provider for Project Concho because of their advanced, field-proven solutions, a clear pathway to scalable manufacturing backed by a global partner, and the strong alignment of our business values,” said Martijn Verwoerd, co-founder and director at Return Carbon.

Advancing the future of carbon removal

With Project Concho, Skytree reaffirms its commitment to enabling 10 M tonnes CO₂ capture by 2030. As the world’s first 100% wind-powered DAC hub, this project marks a major milestone in addressing global CO₂ emissions and scaling solutions for a sustainable future.

The news item was initially shared on the Skytree website

Discover about Skytree’s origins from founder Max Beaumont: interview >>

About: Skytree harnesses CO₂ from ambient air through the power of direct air capture (DAC) technology. By embracing its mission to fuel the clean CO₂ transition, the company’s DAC systems actively reduce current and historical carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, providing for both utilisation and storage. The technology represents a stable and sustainable carbon dioxide source, captured directly from the air. The solution helps businesses meet their CO₂ needs while contributing to a healthier planet. skytree.eu

Open call for startups with space business ideas to apply to ESA BIC Noordwijk:

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The idea for the direct air capture (DAC) process came out of the development of a CO₂ scrubber at ESA, where space scientists were evaluating over 50 sorbents. Skytree founder Max Beaumont was a system engineer on this team, located in ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC). The technology was spun out through ESA’s business incubator programme and it was during this time at ESA BIC Noordwijk – while the startup was named Giaura – that the testing and development of the optimised atmospheric CO₂-capture process got underway. Skytree officially launched in 2014 and a decade of research and development followed. September 2023 saw the launch of Skytree Cumulus, its first decentralised DAC unit, effectively working in the same way a tree would suck CO₂ out of the air – only that the Skytree modular unit can suck CO₂ faster and more effectively. Up until last year, Max was the CEO of Skytree and he now acts in a product advisory role for the company. He is also a coach for startups incubated at ESA BIC Noordwijk.

Q&A with Max Beaumont:

What was the spark that inspired you to launch Skytree (or Giaura as it was called back then)?

My original co-founder, Anthony Thirkettle, and I were opportunists. We thought spinning out CO₂-capture technology would be good for the planet. And we leaped at the opportunity to easily get the idea funded. Around the same time, we saw the Virgin Earth Challenge had just launched (in 2007), which aimed to award the first company to commercialise CO₂-capture technology with $25M.

How did you prioritise your time during the 2-year incubation?

My time at ESA BIC was mainly used to build and prove the technology. The capture medium used in ESA’s CO₂ scrubbers had not at that point been applied to removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. It was a necessity to do – and something my engineering mind went to naturally. In retrospect, marketing and branding to raise further funds was just as important.

What’s the greatest benefit of being in the programme?

It gives early-stage ideas and inexperienced entrepreneurs some breathing room.

Did being in ESA BIC help get Skytree noticed within the industry?

Having ESA BIC on our credentials helped us get in front of some stakeholders. But not much, as the service providers surrounding the incubator were rather generic. Our technology was so early-stage, the industry as well as investors wouldn’t look twice at us anyway, no matter our pedigree.

Personally, I was able to convince a few ESA engineers to lend a helping hand and also get the ESTEC workshop to give us space (it was due to them that we were able to build the first Skytree prototype so cost-effectively).

These days, the ESA BIC programme does tap into the technical proficiency of ESA engineers and scientists close by (through the technical support packages) – and getting access to the numerous labs and workshops available at ESTEC (5 minutes’ drive away from ESA BIC) would be a bonus.

What have been the highlights of the journey in the decade since you graduated from ESA BIC?

• Building a team
• Realising a brand
• Seeing a dream manifest
• Meeting highly successful people
• Building self-confidence

What are the main markets where you see Skytree’s direct air capture technology being applied?

The first market is in closed environment agriculture (CEA), i.e. closed greenhouses and vertical farms, which produce food, algae, vaccines and flowers. Beyond that, Skytree is focused on industrial applications supplying concentrated, pressurised CO₂ from ambient air that can be used to produce commodities at scale; think fuels made from atmospheric carbon, cement where injected DAC-sourced CO₂ will improve its quality. Ultimately, our units represent a platform technology which can be used across different industries, so it’ll be interesting to see where the most demand comes from.

I’ve written more on DAC industry trends in a recent article: “Beyond Plan B: The Technologies and Tailwinds Powering Direct Air Capture” (September 2023).

Why direct air capture? “At small usage volumes, the market price of CO₂ increases dramatically (exponentially even), making “decentralised” modular systems cost-effective for customers to adopt. The modular nature of the systems and their replicability also allows for mass-manufacturing and the economies of scale which follows. Furthermore, through mass deployment, the combined capture capacity of the systems could very quickly add up to more than the giant DAC hubs being developed today. Skytree has coined this approach decentralised direct air capture (DDAC).” – Extract of article by Max Beaumont. Read in full here.

How would you encourage someone to take that leap to progress their business idea?

What is your advice to entrepreneurs considering applying to ESA BIC?

Go for it. You’ll never know if you don’t try. But don’t put all your eggs in one basket. There are many other programmes you can and should apply for.

What do you see as the biggest challenge for space related startups at the outset?

Pursuing a solution in search of a problem. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of any technology “spin-out” idea. However, it’s one of the worst ways to build a business. Ideally one begins with a pain, and then seeks a solution to solve it.

As such, it’s vital for space related startups to “throw their babies out the window” when called for, and to truly understand if they are solving a customer pain. If they are not, it’s better to pivot early, even if that means abandoning their original technology. And, also, quitting is an option. The accomplishment is then understanding that the tech they were looking at has no real applications. A worthwhile experience in itself and one upon which they can build. 

Further reading

• “Beyond Plan B: The Technologies and Tailwinds Powering Direct Air Capture” by Max Beaumont (Sep 2023); link
• “How Decentralized DAC Can Fast Track Onsite Carbon Capture” by Estee Chaikin (Jun 2022); link

About Skytree: Skytree harnesses CO₂ from ambient air through the power of direct air capture technology (DAC). This innovation has an applied research foundation at the European Space Agency (ESA) involving the development of cutting-edge technology for CO₂ capture on the International Space Station to tackling the excess CO₂ challenge here on Earth. Skytree founder Max Beaumont spun out the technology through the ESA business incubator programme at ESA BIC Noordwijk. A decade later, Skytree is creating smart, scalable solutions that utilise or store atmospheric CO₂ and contributing to a healthier planet. Led by CEO Rob van Straten, the company launched Its inaugural modular unit – Skytree Cumulus – in September 2023. skytree.eu

Discover everything you need to know about the ESA BIC Noordwijk programme:

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