- The ONS Innovation Award showcased the project and opportunities necessary to grow
- Financial support secured through the Norwegian government’s Longship project – commitment to store 1.5 billion tonnes CO2.
- Company established, construction underway and most contracts awarded since the award.
“It has been quite a journey since we received the ONS Innovation Awards last year “, says Sverre Overå, Project Director Northern Lights from Equinor. At that time, he received, together with the partner companies TotalEnergies and Shell, the ONS 2020 Innovation Award presented by the Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Tina Bru.
In pace with the development of the project, the organisation, consisting of staff from the three partnering companies has been growing. “When the Innovation Award was presented approximately 70 persons were working on Northern Lights”, explains Børre Jacobsen who was appointed Managing Director of the Northern JV in March this year. “Today we have about 150 persons working for the Joint Venture and the project organisation”, he explains.
Increase Europan interest
“Receiving the ONS 2020 Innovation Award has been inspiring to all of us working on Northern Lights”, Overå says. “It is a declaration of TRUST.– People outside our organisation see the value of what we are doing. I also think that is important for possible users/customers of Northern Lights”. Børre Jacobsen explains that the interest in Northern Lights among companies and authorities in North-West Europe is great.
Northern Lights is committed to store 1.5 million tons of CO2 through the Longship project. Their ambition is to increase its capacity to 5 million tons in line with the market development.
What is Northern Lights?
- An open and flexible infrastructure for transport of CO2 from capture sites by ship to a terminal in Øygarden in western Norway for intermediate storage, before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir 2,600 metres under the seabed. Owned by Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies.
- The transport and storage component of Longship, the Norwegian Government’s full-scale carbon capture and storage project.
- Phase one will be completed in mid-2024 with a capacity of up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year.