The Norwegian government has decided to fund the Northern Lights project, the storage component of Longship, the country’s full-scale carbon capture and storage project. Though not a surprise, the decision is welcome, and will trigger the previously conditional support of partners Equinor, Shell and Total; the four entities will now establish a joint venture for work on the project. Phase One of is to be completed by 2024, with an annual storage capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂/year. The decision is highly significant for the CCS industry as a whole, and if successful will demonstrate a model of operation, in which transport and storage is a service provided to capturing industries, that could be adopted in many other localities.

See our two previous news items on this project:

• What’s next for CCS in Europe
• Norwegian Government to fund two CCS projects that will feed into Northern Lights storage