On Thursday, a terminal was opened on Oygarden Island, featuring 12 storage tanks designed for the liquefied CO2 that will be transported by boat. From there, the CO2 will travel through a 110-kilometer pipeline to be permanently stored at a depth of 2.6 kilometers.
This facility, a joint venture involving Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies, is expected to begin storing CO2 by 2025, initially handling 1.5 million tonnes per year, with plans to increase capacity to five million tonnes if demand allows.
Tim Heijn, managing director of the project, described Northern Lights as a demonstration of the feasibility of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which is critical for reducing emissions in hard-to-decarbonize industries like cement and steel.
Despite its potential, CCS is costly and complex, relying heavily on government support to advance. The Norwegian government has financed 80% of the project’s costs as part of the broader 30-billion-kroner ($2.9 billion) Longship initiative.
While some environmentalists criticize the project as "greenwashing," Norway's Energy Minister Terje Aasland defends it as a necessary solution to meet climate challenges without shutting down industries.
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