Northern Lights CCS project grabs a slice of EU funding
The European Commission (EC) has awarded €131 million for the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CCS) project under its Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding scheme. A total of eight cross-border energy infrastructure projects are getting a part of the EU funds.
EU Member States have endorsed the EC’s proposal to invest €594 million of EU funds in eight cross-border energy infrastructure projects under the CEF for Trans-European Networks for Energy.
In the last call for funding proposals open to Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) from the fifth PCI list of November 2021, five CO2 network projects, one gas storage project, and two projects in the electricity sector have been selected for funding.
Almost €480 million will be awarded to four CO2 transport and storage projects, which, as the EC says, constitute the first building blocks of a future Europe-wide carbon value chain that are scheduled for completion before the end of the decade and are therefore expected to contribute to the EU’s 2030 decarbonization objectives.
For the Northern Lights cross-border project linking CO2 capture initiatives in several EU Member States with a future storage site at sea on the Norwegian continental shelf €131 million is intended. The proposed CEF grant will support the expansion of the CO2 import terminal in Øygarden in Norway and the construction of a 100-kilometer offshore pipeline to the storage site.
It was reported earlier this week that a study had been conducted to assess the estimated carbon footprint of the Northern Lights CCS project’s CO2 transport and storage value chain throughout all phases of its lifecycle, from construction to decommissioning.
“I am very happy that the European Union has proposed to grant Northern Lights with CEF-funding. This confirms Northern Lights’s role as key for reaching European climate policy objectives, including contributing to a climate-neutral economy by 2050,” said Børre Jacobsen, Managing Director of Northern Lights.
“The CEF funding will be a positive contribution to Northern Lights’ work to further expand our storage site below the North Sea. We are now looking forward to entering into dialogue with the EU.”