The European Commission has given a thumbs up to Northern Lights’ application for €131 million in funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program.
This news, originally announced in December 2023, has now been officially approved.
“The approval of the proposed CEF funding confirms Northern Lights’ role in the EU’s 2030 decarbonisation objectives and will enable the next expansion phase of our project”, said Tim Heijn, Managing Director.
The European Commission echoed this sentiment, stating, “This is a significant milestone for these projects to advance in their implementation.”
Northern Lights stands out as one of four CO2 transport and storage projects chosen to receive CEF funding. It’s seen as a key element in establishing a Europe-wide infrastructure for carbon management by 2030.
“We are ambitiously planning for growth to offer CO2 transport and storage services to industry across Europe,” Heijn explained.
“Northern Lights is ready to inject 1.5 million tonnes CO2 this year and are planning to expand to the capacity with an additional 3.5 million tonnes for the next development phase.”
Boasting the largest theoretical storage capacity in Europe, the Norwegian Continental Shelf is poised to play a vital role in offering the storage space needed to meet European carbon capture and storage goals, making it a key part of the overall climate change solution.
Northern Lights is the first cross-border, open-source CO2 transport and storage infrastructure network in the world.
The project is a joint venture between oil and gas supermajors Shell, Equinor, and TotalEnergies, and aims to help establish a commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) market in Europe.
Northern Lights is on schedule to start receiving CO2 this year and become the world’s first project to offer cross-border CO2 transport and storage as a service.
Captured emissions are to be transported from capture sites by ship to a receiving terminal in western Norway for intermediate storage, after which they will be transported further by pipeline for safe and permanent storage in a reservoir 2,600 meters (~8530 feet) under the seabed.
source: carbonherald.com