Among the Centre’s achievements, NCCS has produced over 30 innovations at varying levels of technological maturity and contributed to the realisation of Langskip (“Longship”) – the Norwegian government’s initiative to establish the first full-scale, national carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain.
“It’s no small feat to compress eight years of collaboration, research, development and engagement into two days, but the impact of NCCS is undeniable, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see all that we’ve achieved together,” said Mona Mølnvik, director of NCCS and research director at SINTEF Energy Research.
The conference gathered CCS experts, researchers and industry leaders to reflect on the Centre’s results, and discuss the remaining challenges to be addressed in NCCS’ successor, FME gigaCCS, in order for CCS to fulfil its potential as a key technology in the transition to net-zero emissions.
32 partners, at least 15 new research projects and over 100 students
NCCS is a Centre for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME), that unites 11 research partners, 21 industry partners, and 18 associated partners with the goal of accelerating large-scale CCS implementation. This cross-border and cross-sectoral collaboration has ensured the relevancy of its research and uptake by industry.
In addition to the new innovations, NCCS has also produced at least 15 new research projects, focusing on specific parts of the CCS value chain in more detail. This includes areas that were not included in the original application but have since become relevant, such as CO2 capture on ships.
NCCS has also actively contributed to advancing relevant skills and expertise for CCS. The Centre has educated over 100 students, including 24 PhD students, 55 master’s students, and 11 postdoctoral researchers. In addition, NCCS has financed 16 mobility grants, which has led to researcher exchanges between the Centre and 17 research institutes in 10 different countries.
Longship would not set sail without NCCS at the helm
The feasibility study for Longship was conducted in 2016, the same year that NCCS started, with the final investment decision announced in 2020. The owners of the two associated capture projects, Heidelberg Materials and Hafslund Celsio, are both partners in NCCS, as are two of the three owners of the Northern Lights associated storage project, Equinor and TotalEnergies.
Northern Lights officially opened earlier this year, while one of the two capture projects is due to enter into operations in 2025.
“I’m quite confident that NCCS played an important role in the investment decision for the Longship project,” said Mølnvik.
Standing on the shoulders of giants
When NCCS started in 2016, there was very little activity and interest in CCS. Today, the situation is vastly different, which the Centre’s industry partners attributed in no small part to the work performed through NCCS.
“NCCS started at the darkest time for CCS. Today, the situation is much brighter, and NCCS has played a significant role in this,” said Ola Miljeteig, chair of the NCCS Board and VP of CCS Solutions at Equinor.
Yet, while CCS has come far, it has still not reached deployment at the scale needed for it to help us achieve our climate goals. However, due to the progress made in NCCS – as well as its predecessor FME, BigCCS – its successor, gigaCCS is well positioned to continue its work, and address those remaining challenges.
“Even though this is the end of NCCS, it is not the end of our journey – but our continuation, as we take another step closer to our goal of realising CCS as a key technology for decarbonisation,” said Mølnvik, who will also lead gigaCCS.
gigaCCS will formally launch in January 2025.
