British waste management firm Cory Group and carbon capture and storage (CCS) venture Northern Lights signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to realise a major CCS project between the UK and Norway
The MoU will see the two companies explore the possibility of shipping carbon from Cory Group’s energy from waste operations on the River Thames to Northern Lights’ subsea carbon storage facilities in Norway.
In a statement, Cory Group said, “In addition to strengthening the UK and Norway’s free trade agreement, the partnership could help to create a blueprint for international carbon transport and storage and the development of a global carbon trading market.”
Last year, Cory announced plans to develop a major CCS project that could apply CCS technology to the UK’s largest single-site energy from waste (EfW) operation, with the potential to create the world’s largest single-site EfW decarbonisation project.
By 2030, this could deliver 1.5M tonnes of CO2 savings per annum – providing a significant contribution to reducing the carbon emissions of the several million people Cory services in London and the southeast of England. The project will aim to install technology to capture more than 90% of the emissions from Cory’s existing EfW facility, and its new, adjacent EfW facility which is expected to be operational by 2026. That will require liquefied CO2 to be shipped via sea to an offshore subsea storage site.
Northern Lights is a joint venture between Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, and a major part of the Longship project – a full CCS value chain initiative supported by the Norwegian state.
While initial capacity is pegged at 1.5M tonnes of CO2 per year, this can be increased to more than 5M in later stages of development.
Cory chief executive Dougie Sutherland said the importance of the agreement is threefold, “It could be a step forward for CCS in the UK, a vital part of progressing the country’s net-zero ambitions; it could help to consolidate our trading relationship with Norway, one of the UK’s key energy partners; and it could create an initial template for an international carbon market.”
“Through the Longship project, Norway has taken a leadership position in enabling industrial decarbonisation through CCS. This collaboration between Northern Lights and Cory aims to build on learnings from the Longship project and enable the accelerated deployment of CCS projects across the UK and Europe. Given Cory’s location on the river – with access to various domestic and international carbon storage sites – we must remain open to opportunities as CCS develops in the UK. However, we are hugely excited about exploring the potential of this partnership with Northern Lights.”
