Equinor and Microsoft to collaborate on Oslo's "Northern Lights" project

Equinor has signed a memorandum of understanding with US tech giants  Microsoft to explore ways of revitalising the "Northern Lights" carbon capture plant in Oslo.

The US big tech company announced their involvement to enable the transportation and storage of captured CO2 in a bid to remove their carbon footprint, they announced on Monday.

The Northern Lights project was developed by  Equinor in collaboration with joint partners Shell and Total.

The two parties have agreed to explore a technology accord to integrate Microsoft's software into the project, with the US company hoping to add the Norwegian plant's CO2 capture technology to expand its portfolio in the sector. Equinor hopes this will allow Microsoft to invest in the effective development of the Northern Lights project.

They hope it will see an increased interest in CCS technology, as the software developers hope to remove enough CO2 by 2050 to account for its total emissions since its founding in 1975.

They have pledged $1 billion (€858 million) in funds to carbon-removal technology, which they claim is the key to effective decarbonisation.

Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president for Equinor, said: “Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a proven technology and has the potential to play a key role in decarbonizing energy and industries across sectors to meet international climate targets.

"We look forward to working together with Microsoft and the Northern Lights partners to develop digital technologies for Northern Lights. We are also happy to partner with Microsoft to explore opportunities for the Northern Light project to remove carbon from Microsoft’s operations.”

The Norwegian's current plan is to store captured CO2 under the seabed, they announced at a news conference.

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft said in a statement: “One of the world’s imperatives is the need to develop new ways to capture, transport, and permanently store carbon. This will require enormous investment and innovation, including a huge amount of computing power and data.

"As a company, Microsoft is excited about and committed to supporting promising carbon capture approaches. Our goal is not only to contribute our technology and know-how but explore how new solutions like the Northern Lights project can help us meet our own carbon-negative goals by 2030.”

The three partner companies in charge of the project made a conditional investment back in May, pending approval by state authorities.

It will be responsible for creating an open-source, ship-based carbon transport and storage network including developing business models to ship the captured CO2 across Europe.

The final investment is pending but anticipated later this year. The trio plan to begin operations as early in 2024.

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