First temporary CO2 storage tank placed for Northern Lights CCS project

Northern Lights, a joint venture (JV) of energy majors Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies developing an open and flexible infrastructure to safely store CO2 from industries across Europe, is making progress with the installation of the first temporary CO2 storage tank.

This milestone was announced on 5 April when the first temporary CO2 storage tank was lifted and placed at the project’s CO2-receiving facility in Øygarden in western Norway.

“This really changes the look and feel of the site, and shows that the CCS value chain is progressing fast, and that we are on plan for yet another milestone when starting up in 2024”, Northern Lights JV said in a social media update.

The tank is the first out of 12 for the first phase of the project’s CO2 storage development. When in operation, the facility will be ready to handle 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, looking to expand the capacity to above 5 million tonnes per year for the second phase.

Northern Lights is said to be the first industrial carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to develop an open and flexible infrastructure to safely store CO2 from industries across Europe. It is part of the full-scale Longship CCS project that entails the transportation, receipt and permanent storage of CO2 in a reservoir in the northern North Sea.

Last month, Subsea7’s pipelay vessel Seven Oceans began spooling the first section of the 100-kilometre pipeline that will run from the receiving terminal in Øygarden to Equinor’s CO2 storage complex in the North Sea.

Captured and liquefied CO2 from European emitters will be loaded and delivered to the receiving terminal in Øygarden on board two LNG-powered, wind-assisted CO2 transportation ships.

The construction of the ships that will have a capacity of 7.500 m3 liquefied CO2 each began on 21 November 2022 at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. (DSIC) yard in China. The units are slated for delivery by mid-2024.

The sips will have a total length of about 130 metres, a molded width of 21.2 metres, a structural draft of 8 metres, and will sail under the Norwegian flag. They will be classed by classification society DNV.