© Supplied by Northern Lights The Norwegian government has approved plans for the second stage expansion of the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.
The expansion will increase the transport and storage capacity at Northern Lights from 1.5 million tonnes to at least 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
Based in Øygarden, Norway, Northern Lights will transport CO2 from industrial plants across Europe for storage 8,500 feet (2,600m) beneath the seabed in the Norwegian North Sea. It is part of the state-funded “Longship project”.
With construction concluded late last year, the first customer injection of CO2 is expected this year from Heidelberg Materials’ cement factory in Brevik.
Sweden’s Stockholm Exergi have also booked a large volume of the added available capacity in phase two, alongside Yara of the Netherlands and Ørsted in Denmark.
The second phase represents an investment of $700m (£540m) from the project’s developers Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell.
© Supplied by Northern LightsThis also includes the award of €131m (£109m) from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding scheme.
Carbon capture and climate targets
Norwegian minister of energy Terje Aasland said the expansion project is “enormously important” for the country.
“We will not reach our climate targets without large-scale carbon management,” Aasland said.
“The fact that Northern Lights has decided to invest in expanding its capacity, on a purely commercial basis, is a milestone in the work to combat climate change and to establish CO₂ storage as a new Norwegian ocean industry.”
© Supplied by Northern Lights/ScreAasland said the decision of the Norwegian government to invest in the CCS infrastructure is paying off.
‘We are now seeing the value of the state investing in green, immature technologies in an early phase,” he said.
“If the authorities had not facilitated and invested in large-scale CO₂ storage on the continental shelf, we would not be seeing this development today.
“We have now reached the point where Norway can offer CO₂ storage services to European companies with large point source emissions, on commercial terms.”
Norway signs CO2 deal with Switzerland
The Norwegian government also announced the signing of a cross-border CO2 transport and storage agreement with Switzerland.
The deal also involves cooperation on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology. Swiss firm Climeworks is one of the world’s largest developers of direct air capture (DAC) technology.
© BloombergNorway has signed multiple bilateral CCS deals with EU nations, including Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Swiss energy and environment minister Albert Rösti said CO2 storage will be important for the country in meeting its net zero targets.
“This technology complements our existing instruments for decarbonisation,” he said.
“It strengthens innovation, is an opportunity for the economy and strengthens the partnership between Switzerland and Norway.”
The cross-border agreement comes a year after the signing of a declaration of intent, with several Norwegian and Swiss companies having already signed pilot agreements on CO2 removals.
Norwegian climate and environment minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said the pilot deal with Switzerland will help Norway build the legal framework for carbon removals.
‘If we are to reach our climate targets, cutting emissions is not enough. We also need to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere,” he said.
“To unlock the full potential of CO₂ removal, we need robust and balanced rules and systems – both in the EU, the other European countries and globally.”
