Riviera reports that pipeline laying operations have commenced for the highly anticipated Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.

Northern Lights is Norway’s first licence for CO₂ storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and is an important element of the landmark Langskip (Longship) CCS initiative. It has in fact been described as one of the “flagship projects in the EU’s 2030 decarbonisation objectives”, and secured a €131m (US$141m) grant from the European Commission in June, as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding scheme.

The project will involve large liquefied carbon dioxide (LCO₂) carriers transporting carbon to a permanent sequestration facility in the Norwegian Continental Shelf, which has the highest theoretical storage capacity in Europe.

Norway’s Miros Group said it is supporting the project by deploying a cloud-enabled service, WaveSystem, and an additional wave radar (RangeFinder) on project vessels. These services provide accurate sea-state measurements in real time for safe pipelay operations. WaveSystem comprises Miros’s Wavex and RangeFinder technology, and enables project vessels to safely navigate the offshore environment by sharing sea-state data through the Miros Cloud platform.

The first two vessels for the Northern Lights joint venture were launched in April at China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corp shipyard. Both ships will become operational by the second half of this year.

Heidelberg Materials cement subsidiary Norcem and chemicals company Yara, significant industrial emitters in Norway, will become the project’s first customers. (See related story from the Guardian here.)

Northern Lights is preparing to inject 1.5m tonnes of CO₂ this year. The plan is to expand that capacity with an additional 3.5m tonnes for the next development phase.