Holcim break ground on OLYMPUS project
Flagship project at Milaki in Greece to produce 2 million tonnes of near-zero cement a year from 2029
HOLCIM have broken ground at the state-of-the-art OLYMPUS project at their plant in Milaki, Greece, which is being engineered to produce 2 million tonnes of near-zero cement per annum from 2029. With a planned investment of €400 million, including a grant from the EU Innovation Fund, the OLYMPUS project will put innovation to work to advance Europe’s Clean Industrial Deal.
Miljan Gutovic, chief executive of Holcim Group, said: ‘Holcim are on course to make near-zero cement and concrete a reality at scale this decade. The OLYMPUS project in Greece is one of our seven large-scale, European Union-supported carbon capture, utilization, and storage projects that are setting the Clean Industrial Deal in motion. Together, these will enable Holcim to offer more than 8 million tonnes of near-zero cement each year across Europe by 2030.’
The plant’s ground-breaking ceremony was held in the presence of Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. He said: ‘This is a project of strategic importance – a project made possible thanks to the combination of private funding from the parent company – and we thank you for the trust you place in our country – as well as significant European funding. And surely, this investment did not receive the name of the legendary OLYMPUS by chance. We are talking about an investment of nearly €400 million, of which €125 million are European funds.
‘But, of course, I would say that the most important aspect is the creation of well-paid jobs: more than 1,000 new positions during the construction phase alone, and an additional 100 jobs during the operational phase. I would say this is the social footprint left by the advancement of industry in our country.’
OLYMPUS will deploy a combination of OxyCalciner and Cryocap FG technologies as a novel cost-efficient innovation for carbon capture. At the regional level, it is expected that OLYMPUS will create more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, contributing to the overall economic development of the surrounding area in Evia. Holcim are partnering with Air Liquide on the project with the €125 million in support from the Innovation Fund being financed by revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System.
