MechChem Africa September-October 2022

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ABB technology is to be used for Norway’s Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CSS) project, the world’s first open CO 2 transport and storage solution. ABB solutions for Northern lights CSS project

our decision-making process. We needed to entrust our remote operations to a partner with a successful track record in reliability and optimisation to provide strong founda tions for this important development.” “The ability to capture and store indus trial CO 2 emissions, which cannot currently be prevented, is critical if the world is to reach net zero by 2050. Global capacity of 1.7-billion tons of CO 2 capture is required by 2030,” says Per Erik Holsten, Head of ABB Energy Industries in Northern Europe. “Northern Lights is an important de velopment, not only for its contribution to rebalancing the carbon cycle, but also for its commitment to innovation. We are very pleased to be part of this exciting project, which will contribute to a safer, smarter and more sustainable future,” he adds. Purpose-built ships will transport cap tured and liquefied CO 2 from emitters to the Northern Lights Øygarden Terminal in western Norway, which will be remotely operated from Equinor’s facilities at the Sture Terminal located approximately 7.0 km away. To enable remote operations, ABB will build a state-of-the-art Extended Operator Workstation at the Northern Lights Terminal, which will work in tandem with the central control room in Sture, with the two communicating seamlessly to minimise response times and support 24/7 remote operations. Apart from the shore-to-ship solution, ABB technology will also power the entire project, implementing the main electrical system via its power process management system and incorporating high and low volt age switchgear and transformers. www.abb.com

A BB has been contracted by engi neering, procurement, and con struction (EPC) contractor Aker Solutions, a leader in sustainable energy solutions, to deliver the main electri cal, automation and safety systems for Nor way’s Northern Lights project. A joint venture between Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, Northern Lights is the first industrial carbon capture and storage project to develop an open and flexible infrastructure to safely store CO 2 from industries across Europe. The first phase of the project is due to be completedmid-2024 and will have the capacity to permanently store up to 1.5 million tons of CO 2 per year, with the ambition to expand to over five million tons per year in a second develop ment phase. ABB’s automation, electrical and digi tal solutions will be integrated into the Together with Shell and TotalEnergies, Equinor is developing infrastructure on the Norwegian Continental Shelf for the transport and storage of CO 2 from onshore industries across Europe. The project, called Northern Lights, involves transporting liqui fied CO 2 by pipeline for permanent offshore subsea storage. The Northern Lights project is part of the Norwegian full-scale CCS project, which includes the capture of CO 2 emissions from industrial capture sources in the Oslo fjord region’s cement and waste-to-energy plants

Northern Lights project to enable the remote operation of a new carbon capture terminal and ensure that the facility runs at optimum efficiency. Leveraging its market leading distributed control system, ABB Ability™ System 800xA, operators will gain greater visibility into the operation of the Northern Lights terminal, with the ABB system analysing real-time and historical data and instantly showing plant metrics and KPIs. As a result, operators will be able to make more accurate and informed decisions and review options for optimising performance of assets and processes. “ABB is a market leader in distributed control systems and a long-standing partner with a thorough understanding of our busi ness and expertise in both on- and offshore, as well as in subsea projects,” said Kristin Glenna, project manager for Northern Lights at Aker Solutions. “This was key to and shipping liquified CO 2 from these indus trial capture sites to an onshore terminal on the Norwegian west coast. From there, the CO 2 will be transported by pipeline to a subsea storage location in the North Sea for permanent storage. The solution being considered will have an initial storage capacity of around 1.5 mil lion tonnes of CO 2 per year. Once the CO 2 is captured onshore, it will be transported by ships, injected and permanently stored 1 000—2 000 metres below the seabed. This a unique solution that enables large

TheNorthern Lights CSS project

CO 2 volumes from across Europe to be se questrated —emissions that would other wise be contributing to global warming. q

44 ¦ MechChem Africa • September-October 2022