Norway Launches World's First Commercial Carbon Capture Facility in North Sea

The Northern Lights project, the world's first commercial carbon capture and storage facility, has successfully injected and stored its first volumes of CO2 in the Norwegian North Sea. The facility captures CO2 from a cement factory and stores it in a geological formation 2,600 meters beneath the seabed. The project has a current capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, which will increase to 5 million tonnes per year after expansion. This is equivalent to removing the annual emissions of around 326,000 average passenger cars.

The Northern Lights project, the world's first commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility, has successfully injected and stored its first volumes of CO2 in the Norwegian North Sea. The facility, operated by a joint venture between Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies, captures CO2 from a cement factory and stores it in a geological formation 2,600 meters beneath the seabed [1].

The project's first phase has a storage capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to removing the annual emissions of around 326,000 average passenger cars [2]. The initial injection marks a significant milestone in the development of CCS technologies and demonstrates the feasibility of this approach for reducing industrial emissions.

Northern Lights has secured several commercial contracts in Europe, including with Yara ammonia plant in the Netherlands, two of Orsted's biofuel plants in Denmark, and a Stockholm Exergi thermal power plant in Sweden [1]. The project is largely financed by the Norwegian state, which covers approximately 80% of the cost for phase 1 [2].

The successful injection of CO2 into the Aurora reservoir signifies the viability of carbon capture, transport, and storage as a scalable industry. The project's second phase, which will increase transport and storage capacity to a minimum of 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, is expected to be operational by 2028 [2].

References:
[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-first-commercial-carbon-capture-storage-facility-norway-opens/
[2] https://www.offshore-energy.biz/worlds-first-third-party-co2-storage-facility-begins-operating-as-first-injection-takes-place/