The UK and Norway are growing their joint plans for building offshore infrastructure and reducing barriers to develop a North Sea hub for the cross-border storage of carbon dioxide.
It is estimated that the North Sea could store up to 78 billion tonnes of CO2, providing economy-growing and emissions-reducing opportunities for both countries and their industrial activity.
Source: UK government
The commitments coincided with a Green Industrial Partnership signed by Ed Miliband, UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, and Cecilie Myrseth, Norway Minister of Trade and Industry, following its launch in December.
Norwegian energy major Equinor has invested in UK offshore wind, carbon capture, usage and storage plus hydrogen, and Europe’s biggest renewables generator Statkraft is also active – although yesterday it announced it is halting its green hydrogen programme.
A recent report from trade body the Carbon Capture & Storage Association called for greater risk to be accepted by the private sector in return for appropriate financial returns to ease reliance on public funding for CO2 transport and storage.
It wants to see increased pace and scale of delivery for CO2 transport and storage through more flexible, commercially led models, including non-pipeline options, cross-border storage and reduced regulatory barriers for expansion.
Creating hubs that are located close to storage can reduce costly transportation infrastructure, according to global consultancy McKinsey & Co.
In locations where onshore geological storage may be limited due to regulation or public acceptance, such as in Europe, offshore storage-led hubs are more likely to emerge.
An example of a storage-led hub is the Porthos CCUS project, which will capture CO2 emissions from facilities in the Port of Rotterdam and then store them in gas fields under the North Sea.
“Considerable volumes of CO2 remain to be captured, and we can accomplish significantly more by working together than labouring alone,” said McKinsey.
