Cory and Northern Lights announce carbon partnership

Northern Lights was incorporated in March 2021 as a partnership between Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, and is behind a project to deliver a major carbon capture project in Norway.

Cory and Northern Lights will now explore the opportunity to ship carbon from Cory’s energy from waste operations on the River Thames in London to the Northern Lights’ subsea carbon storage facilities in Norway.

Northern Lights hope to have the carbon capture project online in 2024.

At an event on Friday (13 May) at the Norwegian Embassy in London the Norwegian prime minister,  Jonas Gahr Støre, and the UK secretary of state for business, Kwasi Kwarteng were present to witness the MoU being signed.

‘Significant’

Dougie Sutherland, chief executive of Cory, said: “This partnership is significant from both a national and international perspective.

“Through this collaboration with Northern Lights, Cory will use its strategically advantageous position on the River Thames to explore the possibility of cross-border marine transportation of CO₂. The importance of this agreement is threefold: it could be a step forward for CCS in the UK, a vital part of progressing the country’s net zero ambitions; it could help to consolidate our trading relationship with Norway, one of the UK’s key energy partners; and it could create an initial template for an international carbon market”.

EfW

Cory announced plans to develop a CCS project to its Belvedere EfW operation in 2021. It is estimated that by 2030, this could deliver 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 savings per year.

The project will aim to install technology to capture more than 90% of the emissions from Cory’s existing EfW facility as well as the adjacent EfW facility which is expected to be operational by 2026.

The liquefied CO2 is planned to be transported to an offshore subsea storage site, using marine shipment.

Northern Lights

Northern Lights is behind the carbon capture project in Norway called ‘Longship’. Initial capacity is planned to be 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ per year. This has the potential to increase to over 5 million in later stages of development.

Børre Jacobsen, managing director of Northern Lights JV, said: “Our partnership with Cory is testament to the development of CCS across Europe. Shipping redefines the concept of access to CO2 storage and Northern Lights is therefore well positioned to help accelerate the development of CCS. We are looking forward to working with Cory to realise the potential of the CCS market in support of climate targets. This will require technical and commercial innovation – as well as international collaboration.”