Research pays off and is vital to the fast implementation of full-scale CCS technologies

This presentation was given during Gassnova’s breakfast meeting on Tuesday 15 August during the Arendal Political and Business Forum. (Arendalsuka)

Research pays off and is vital to the fast implementation of full-scale CCS technologies. We have had cross-party consensus on investment in CCS research in Norway for some years. It is vital that this continues.

SINTEF, together with its strategic partner NTNU, has been coordinating major Norwegian and European R&D projects for twenty years. The NCCS centre is one of eight new centres for environmentally-friendly energy research (CEERs) that was launched by Tord Lien, then Norwegian Minister for Petroleum and Energy, in May 2016. A very important programme intended to contribute towards the faster implementation of full-scale CCS technologies. We have also assumed a leading role in the development of EU Framework and Work Programmes. We coordinate major and important projects and are currently heading the H2020 project CEMCAP, which brings together Europe’s cement manufacturers with the aim of developing a technology to capture CO2 derived from cement production processes. The industry research forum ECRA is ensuring that our results are disseminated throughout the sector.

The major R&D projects have been crucial to the development of the Aker Group’s carbon capture technology, which has been further developed and tested at the Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM). The partners participating in the TCM used knowledge-based research as the foundation for their planning. We can also point to Reinertsen’s investment in the development of a hydrogen production technology based on membranes developed as part of the strategic projects funded by the Research Council of Norway. This demonstrates how important it is that the funding agencies provide support to the entire chain from strategic research to demonstration and pilot projects, such as is currently the case in Norway.

The Norwegian full-scale project is vital to the global implementation of CCS technologies. My second message to the politicians here is that you must make sure that this project is taken to completion. This means making an investment decision in 2019. The commercial project partners can rely on a knowledge base built up over twenty years of research investment.

This has resulted in people with the knowledge, technologies and design tools to ensure a higher quality project, and safe and efficient solutions.

A full-scale CCS project in Norway will have many positive impacts, including:
1. An opportunity for technology suppliers in the global market.
2. A major storage solution that can accommodate Europe’s CO2 and stimulate the implementation of many more CCS projects.
3. Hydrogen production from natural gas, incorporating CCS technology. This will secure the value of Norwegian natural gas resources.
4. Knowledge derived from the full-scale project will provide the R&D centres with a vital source of learning.
5. However, without question the greatest and most important benefit will be the opportunity for Norway to contribute towards reducing global warming.

I will now run through my suggestions once again:

Continue and consolidate the cross-party consensus to invest in R&D in CCS technologies.
See the full-scale project to COMPLETION.

And finally, a modest reflection on politics and paradigm shifts. Politics IS important. However, consumer power is on the increase.

We want clean production – emissions-free transport, electricity and other products.

This inspiring perspective will motivate future development with the industry, we the researchers, and you the politicians – all on the same team :-).