The agreement is effective from 1 January 2026 and Northern Lights will be storing 430,000 tonnes CO2 annually for 10 years.
“We are very pleased that Ørsted has selected Northern Lights as CO2 tranport and storage provider. Ørsted is our second commercial customer who, together with Yara, gives us the opportunity to further utilise the capacity at our storage site below the North Sea. This agreement confirms the commercial potential for CCS and demonstrates that the market for transport and storage of CO2 is evolving rapidly”, said Børre Jacobsen, Managing Director of Northern Lights.
Ørsted has been awarded public funding from the Danish Energy Agency under the first Danish tender of the CCUS Fund to develop a CO2 capture hub for the biomass power stations Asnæs and Avedøre. The facilities will capture and liquefy 430,000 tonnes of biogenic CO2 per year. .
Biogenic CO2 refers to the emissions from bioenergy production, generated by the release of absorbed CO2 from biomass such as wood or organic waste.
Northern Lights will then transport the liquefied CO2 by ship for permanent offshore storage below the North Sea, from the Ørsted Kalundborg Hub in Denmark to a CO2 receiving terminal at Øygarden, Norway. The liquefied CO2 will be stored intermediately in onshore tanks at Øygarden prior to the injection into the offshore reservoir via pipeline for permanent and safe storage, 2,600 meters below the seabed.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of the tender process, and we look forward to initiating the work of establishing carbon capture units at two of our CHP plants running on sustainable straw and wood chips. According to the UN’s panel on climate change, IPCC, capture and storage of biogenic carbon is one of the tools we must use to fight climate change, and our CCS project will contribute significantly to realising the politically decided Danish climate target for 2025 and 2030,” said Ole Thomsen, Senior Vice President, and head of Ørsted’s CHP business.
The tender procedure is fully completed when the contract has been signed by Ørsted and the DEA. Signing is expected to take place shortly after expiry of the mandatory standstill period.