11-04-2024

New research centre announced dedicated to the realisation of Gigatonne CCS

On 11 April, the Research Council of Norway announced an investment of 180 MNOK in a new research centre on carbon capture, transport and storage (CCS) in Norway.

gigaCCS is a Centre for Environment-Friendly Energy Research (FME) that will advance Norway’s expertise in CCS, as well as support the global implementation of CCS at a gigatonne scale.

This eight-year centre (2025-2032) will build on the successful collaborations and innovations of its FME predecessor, the Norwegian CCS Research Centre (NCCS), which is due to conclude this year.

“CCS deployment at gigatonne scale is vital for a just and sustainable transition to net-zero emissions,” said Mona Mølnvik, research director at SINTEF Energy Research and director of NCCS, who will continue in that position for gigaCCS. “gigaCCS is designed to spearhead frontier research and innovations, develop solutions for a net-zero society, educate CCS specialists, and strengthen the competence base required for accelerated CCS implementation.”

gigaCCS will support CCS deployment at scale
CCS has been described by the International Energy Agency as a “crucial” tool for reaching our climate goals, due to its ability to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries and enable negative-emission technologies. However, in order for CCS to fulfil its potential, its deployment needs to be scaled up so that gigatonnes of CO2 is stored per year.

gigaCCS will address this challenge by developing and producing competitive CCS technologies that will increase value and reduce risk for industry and society through strategic competence and capacity building.

“CCS is a driver of economic growth an employment by creating and sustaining jobs, supporting economic growth through net-zero industries, facilitating a just transition in the shift from high-emission to low-carbon industries, and enabling infrastructure reuse and deferral of decommissioning costs,” explained Mølnvik.

gigaCCS will conduct industry-driven research
Swift and efficient CCS deployment at scale will require a joint effort between industrial actors and the R&D community. gigaCCS will serve as a collaborative arena, consisting of 43 R&D and industry partners, as well as over 30 associated partners, to ensure that its work is relevant and has the highest possible impact. gigaCCS is hosted by SINTEF.

“We must ensure that the time from solutions being developed in the laboratories to when they can be implemented in society is as short as possible. Collaboration in FME centres acts as a platform for growth that secures and improves the competitive power of large parts of Norwegian industry, and everyone they provide services to ,” said Alexandra Bech Gjørv, CEO of SINTEF.

Another key output of this collaboration will be in the education of at least 28 PhD candidates and over 50 MSc and BSc students. gigaCCS will integrate students closely into the Centre’s main activities, thereby ensuring that students receive training that is both of interest to industry and safeguards the future of CCS technology.