Special correspondent to Oygarden
Huge steel tanks connected to a web of gleaming pipes overlook the rock and conifers.
It is here, on the island of Oygarden, an hour's drive from the pretty town of Bergen, that Norway intends to recover Europe's carbon dioxide (CO2) in the coming years, for bury forever.
This project which seems a little crazy, Northern Lights (
“northern lights”
in English), owned equally by the Norwegian oil giants Equinor, Anglo-Dutch Shell and French TotalEnergies, must enter service before the end of the year.
It will store up to 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year initially, then 5 million by 2030.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is not in itself new: this technology aims to recover greenhouse gas directly where it is emitted (like factory fumes) and bury it underground in a way that permanent, in order to fight against global warming.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), around forty sites are already using it, on a small scale.
But Northern Lights is the
“world’s first fully commercial CCS project”
, and the first to provide for cross-border carbon dioxide trading…
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