How Solar Powered Generators Can Help Trap Carbon From the Sea

Date: 05/05/25

Achieving Net Zero requires more than just reducing our carbon footprint by using renewable energy sources such as solar powered generators. To achieve our climate goals and reduce the impact of climate change, we need to capture and store the vast amounts of carbon that are already in our atmosphere. 

One innovative project aiming to do exactly that began testing recently in Weymouth on the South Coast of England. The project is called SeaCURE and it has been backed by the UK Government to the tune of £3 million, as one of 15 pilot projects aimed at capturing and storing greenhouse gases. As we reported last year, the Government has pledged an impressive total of £22 billion towards carbon capture technology.

How does SeaCURE work?

It’s all down to where the carbon produced through burning fossil fuels is stored. Remarkably, seawater holds as much as 150 times more carbon than air can hold, and so removing carbon from the sea is far more efficient than trying to remove it from the atmosphere. 

Researchers from Exeter University have created a system that can strip the carbon from seawater quickly and easily, before returning the water back to the sea to absorb more carbon. The carbon is then stored using established methods, for example, deep inside old mines and empty oil and gas wells.  

How effective is SeaCURE? 

The SeaCURE system can strip as much as 90% of the CO2 from seawater using this process. What’s more, the low carbon water returned to the ocean begins to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere straight away.  

The current test site is very small scale, absorbing just 100 tonnes of CO2 per year, which is the same as a flight to the US. However, scientists estimate that if the project were scaled up to process just 1% of the surface water of oceans, it could remove as much as 14 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year.

Where do solar powered generators come in?

Like all carbon capture projects, SeaCURE requires energy to process the seawater. If this energy is produced using fossil fuels, then the net gain is actually very little. “The energy requirements to do this from seawater are huge,” explains project leader Dr Paul Halloran.

Solar powered generators would not only make the carbon capture more efficient and environmentally friendly, but they would also allow the technology to be deployed in floating processing plants across the surface of the world’s oceans.

What has been the reaction?

Both the UK Government and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) back the project. Energy Minister Kerry McCarthy says that “removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere is essential in helping us achieve net zero. Innovative projects like SeaCURE play an important role in creating the green technologies needed to make this happen.”

Dr Oliver Geden, from the IPCC agrees, emphasising that “carbon removal is necessary if you want to reach net zero and halt further warming”.

Think Hire supporting the fight against climate change

Here at Think Hire, our solar powered generators not only help you play your part in reducing carbon emissions from your site, but they also support clean energy projects around the UK.

From powering Chester’s Green Expo last summer, to joining the Fit4 Offshore initiative, from powering summer festivals to cutting the carbon impact of sports, Think Hire is at the forefront of the climate fight. And we’re here to support new carbon capture technology too, providing clean, green energy and advanced energy management to power the next generation of carbon removal and storage plants.

To find out more about solar powered generators and renewable energy solutions from Think Hire, get in touch with our team today.

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