Northern Lights issues first certificates confirming offshore CO2 storage

Credits: Northern Lights

Norway’s Northern Lights carbon storage project has issued its first certificates confirming the permanent offshore storage of CO2.

The certificates verify that CO2 captured at Heidelberg Materials’ Brevik cement plant has been received, transported and injected into the Aurora reservoir beneath the North Sea. 

They are intended to provide customers with documented proof of storage and form part of the project’s digital measurement and reporting framework.

Tim Heijn, Managing Director of Northern Lights JV, said the certificates are underpinned by a detailed monitoring, reporting and verification system. He commented, “Credible carbon accounting is essential to the integrity of the emerging CCS industry.”

It includes a precise tracking of CO2 volumes transported and stored, as well as emissions arising across the value chain. 

“Data is recorded in our digital system, which is designed as a ledger for all certificates. We are proud to be able to issue the first storage certificates for our customers,” added Heijn.

In a separate statement, Heijn added that the certificates confirm both the start of full operations and the maturity of the project’s digital monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) tools. 

“This is the proof of two very important points: we are now actually in operations and storing CO2 in the underground for our first customer and we have successfully built a digital system using a robust MRV framework to track and account for all CO2 in the transportation and storage chain.”

The development follows the project’s first injection of CO2 earlier this year. That saw CO2 captured at Heidelberg Materials’ Brevik plant transported through a 100km pipeline before being injected into the offshore formation. 

At the time, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal described the achievement as a major milestone, with Executive Vice-President Irene Rummelhoff saying the partnership aimed to use it as a stepping stone for further CCS deployment in Europe.

Northern Lights, a joint venture owned equally by Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, is considered the first open access CO2 transport and storage network developed for third-party emitters. Phase one has a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 a year, fully contracted by customers across Europe.

The Northern Pioneer, the world’s first commercial liquefied CO2 carrier, arrived earlier this year to support the logistics chain for incoming volumes.

A final investment decision for phase two was taken in March. The expansion will add at least five million tonnes of capacity from 2028. Northern Lights has already agreed to handle up to 900,000 tonnes a year of CO2 from Stockholm Exergi’s bioenergy operations for the second phase.

source: gassworld.com