Three major energy companies—TotalEnergies, Equinor, and Shell—have announced a NOK 7.5 billion (USD 714 million) investment to significantly expand the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Norway. The initiative, which is part of the Norwegian government’s Longship CCS program, seeks to increase the project’s annual CO2 storage capacity from 1.5 million tons to over 5 million tons by 2028. The expansion comes as demand for carbon storage among European industries continues to grow, aiming to meet climate goals under the Paris Agreement.
When the Northern Lights project was initially launched in 2020, it was positioned as a central component of Longship, the national CCS strategy. Since the first phase’s completion in September 2024, infrastructure such as a terminal, a 100-km subsea pipeline, and offshore injection wells have been installed. These facilities are now fully booked, with operations set to begin storing CO2 from summer 2025. The latest expansion announcement follows continued international interest in large-scale carbon storage solutions.
What Will the Expansion Include?
The second stage of the Northern Lights project will introduce additional infrastructure, including new onshore tanks, marine jetties, pumps, additional injection wells, and specialized vessels for transporting liquid CO2. With construction planned for completion by the latter half of 2028, the expansion aims to meet increasing commitments from industrial emitters. A key agreement supporting the expansion is a 15-year contract with Stockholm Exergi, which will send 900,000 tons of biogenic CO2 annually for permanent storage.
How Does Stockholm Exergi Support the Initiative?
Stockholm Exergi’s participation stems from its own investment in a bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) facility in Stockholm. The $1.3 billion project intends to capture and store CO2 from a biomass-fueled combined heat and power plant. The captured carbon will be liquefied and transported to Northern Lights for underground storage. The company has already secured carbon removal agreements with major organizations including Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Frontier, Alphabet, Meta (NASDAQ:META), JPMorgan Chase, and H&M.
“I am very pleased that Northern Lights has decided to move forward with its project. This is a crucial step in our collaboration. Permanent carbon storage will play a key role in achieving the climate targets,”
said Anders Egelrud, CEO of Stockholm Exergi.
The project’s backers emphasize the role of CCS in tackling emissions from sectors where decarbonization is technically challenging. Shell’s Huibert Vigeveno stated:
“Carbon capture and storage has a role to play in helping society progress towards net-zero emissions. Proceeding with phase two of Northern Lights is another key milestone when it comes to CCS and helping our customers in hard-to-abate sectors to decarbonise.”
TotalEnergies also expressed support for the initiative, with Nicolas Terraz, President of Exploration & Production, saying:
“Northern Lights can thus provide a concrete solution for the hard-to-abate industrial emitters in Europe, so that they can reduce their CO2 emissions and thereby secure their businesses’ sustainability.”
When Northern Lights was introduced, it was initially targeted for 1.5 million tons per year, but growing interest from European industries and governments prompted expansion discussions early on. Even before the initial capacity was operational, potential clients from Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden expressed interest in carbon storage solutions. The new agreements and infrastructure mark a substantial increase in the scale and ambition of the project compared to earlier projections.
The Northern Lights expansion reflects increasing alignment between industrial players and governments on the need for large-scale carbon management. For companies in cement, steel, and energy sectors, CCS offers a way to meet emission targets while maintaining operations. The integration of biogenic CO2 through Stockholm Exergi’s facility adds a layer of carbon removal that goes beyond emission avoidance. Readers interested in climate policy, low-carbon technology, or industrial decarbonization may find this development useful in understanding how cross-border collaborations and commercial contracts are shaping climate strategies in Europe. The project provides an example of how infrastructure can adapt to growing carbon storage needs, while also showing the investment scale necessary to make CCS viable.
