Thursday 15 October 2020

Microsoft joins Norwegian carbon storage project as technology partner

Microsoft joins Norwegian carbon storage project as technology partner

Microsoft has announced it is collaborating on a carbon storage project in Norway as a technology partner.

Northern Lights is a joint project between the Norwegian Government and energy companies Equinor, Shell and Total that seeks to standardise and scale CCS across Europe.

The project will capture carbon dioxide from industrial sources in the Oslo-fjord region, following which the carbon will be liquefied and shipped to an onshore terminal on the Norwegian west coast.

It will then be transported by pipeline to an offshore storage location subsea in the North Sea for permanent storage.

The group will explore how to integrate Microsoft's digital expertise and work to find ways to invest in the effective deployment of the project.

Microsoft will also look into the use of Northern Lights' CO2 transport and storage facility as part of its own portfolio of carbon capture, transportation and storage projects.

Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer for Microsoft said: “This is a challenge that no one government or corporation can solve alone.

“We all need to do more and those of us who can move faster should. We’re excited by the potential of new approaches like the Northern Lights project. Together with our partners we can work to scale the transportation and storage of captured carbon to help achieve the business needs of a net zero carbon future.”

The CCS plant will initially process up to 1.5 million tons of liquid CO2 a year and more than 100 million tons over time.

The Norwegian Government recently announced its proposal to invest NOK16.8 billion (£1.4bn) into realising the Longship CCS value chain, of which Northern Lights is the transport and storage part.

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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