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Go ahead for Northern Lights
Go-ahead for Northern Lights project
FOLLOWING A HISTORIC VOTE IN PARLIAMENT, THE NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT RECENTLY ANNOUNCED ITS FUNDING DECISION FOR THE NORTHERN LIGHTS CO2 TRANSPORT AND STORAGE PROJECT.
The funding decision demonstrates the Norwegian government’s strong support for the development of a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) value chain, which is essental if Europe is to achieve its carbon neutrality targets.
First of its kind
Northern Lights will be the frst of its kind – an open and available infrastructure enabling transport of CO2 from industrial capture sites to a terminal in Øygarden for intermediate storage, before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir 2,500m under the seabed. The project concerns the transport and storage component of Longship, the Norwegian government’s full-scale carbon capture and storage project. “Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is important to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Longship is the largest climate project ever in the Norwegian industry and will contribute substantally to the development of CCS as an efcient mitgaton measure. Working together with the industry, the step-by-step approach has confrmed that the project is feasible. I want to thank the Northern Lights partners Equinor, Shell and Total - and I am looking forward to our contnued cooperaton”, says Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Tina Bru. “Northern Lights is a true pioneering project and the frst of its kind ofering a soluton to cut emissions from industrial sources in Norway and Europe. We are ready to start realising this project that will be an important part of the climate soluton. I want to thank the Norwegian government and for the broad politcal support in making this a reality. I am certain that we, together with our partners and suppliers, will make this project a success”, adds Equinor’s CEO, Anders Opedal. “The Norwegian government’s initatve and support for what will be the world’s frst open source CO2, transport, and storage project shows real vision and commitment. Northern Lights is designed to provide a service to industrial emiters who can now take acton on emissions that can’t be avoided. This is key to bringing real progress towards tackling climate change. Shell will play our part in making this a reality”, says Ben van Beurden, CEO of Shell. “The development of the carbon capture and sequestraton value chain is essental to decarbonise Europe’s industries. We are a long-standing partner of Norway, a pioneer country which has more than 20 years of experience in CCS, and today we thank its government for making possible the fnal investment
decision to develop Northern Lights. CCS is key to achieving carbon neutrality in Europe and is fully part of our Climate Ambiton to get to net zero emissions by 2050”, comments Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of Total.
Open to third parties
The Northern Lights project is part of the Norwegian full-scale CCS project Longship. The full-scale project includes capture of CO2 from industrial capture sources in the Oslo-ford region (cement and waste-to-energy) and shipping of liquid CO2 from these industrial capture sites to an onshore terminal on the Norwegian west coast. From there, the liquifed CO2 will be transported by pipeline to an ofshore storage locaton subsea in the North Sea for permanent storage. The Northern Lights project includes the development and operaton of CO2 transport and storage facilites, open to third partes. It will be the frst ever cross-border, open-source CO2 transport and storage infrastructure network and ofers European industrial emiters the opportunity to store their CO2 safely and permanently underground. Phase one of the project will be completed mid-2024, with a capacity of up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Equinor, Shell, and Total made a conditonal investment decision on the Northern Lights CO2 transport and storage project in May 2020. The project partners are now in the process of establishing a Joint Venture (subject to merger clearance), which will be for all project actvites, including business development.
i. northernlightsccs.com
Norcem CO2 Capture – Capture from industrial plants – Compresses and temporarily stored
The Northern Lights project is part of the Norwegian full-scale CCS project Longship.
Image courtesy of Equinor. Fortum Oslo Varme CO2 Capture – Capture from industrial plants – Compresses and temporarily stored
Transport – Compressed CO2 3rd Party Volumes
Permanently stored – CO2 received and temporarily stored – Export via pipeline offshore – Permanently stored in reservoir (approximately 2,500m below sea level)
