Northern Lights is increasing CO2 shipping capacity with its third LCO2 carrier. Like the first two vessels, the gas equipment specialist Svanehøj will supply the cargo pump system. The three ships are the world’s largest of their kind, and the order represents a significant milestone for Svanehøj’s ambitions in Carbon Capture and Storage.
Svanehøj has added the world’s three largest dedicated CO2 ships to its reference list.
In 2022, the Danish gas equipment specialist was chosen as the cargo pump supplier for the first two Northern Lights LCO2 carriers. Earlier this month, Svanehøj added one more ship of similar design to the order book when Northern Lights announced the award of the shipbuilding contract for its third LCO2carrier. The vessels are built at Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore (DSOC) in China.
Svanehøj supplied its first CO2 pump system for an LCO2 carrier in the 1990s. As one of the very few marine pump manufacturers with experience in CO2 pumping systems, Svanehøj has identified Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) among the future growth segments. The reference from the Northern Lights project is, therefore, of great strategic importance:
– It is of great value to us that the owner and the gas contractor are showing continued trust in our pumps by awarding us this contract for the third Northern Lights carrier. It will also be strategically important for the other projects we are working on. We see a lot of activity in the LCO2 segment, and we are talking with yards and gas contractors worldwide about opportunities that could materialize in the short term. Although long-term storage of CO2 is currently in a rudimentary stage, we at Svanehøj already have the experience and competencies to supply the pumping systems, says Nithin Sudarsan, Sales Director (Gas) in Svanehøj.
Northern Lights is developing the world’s first open-source CO2 transport and storage infrastructure in Norway. The Northern Lights LCO2 carriers will each have a cargo capacity of 7,500 m3, custom-built with pressurised cargo tanks for transporting liquefied CO2. Svanehøj will deliver two deepwell CO2 cargo pumps of 15 metres for each ship. Once operational, the ships will transport CO2 from industrial emitters in Norway and other European countries to a receiving terminal in western Norway for intermediate storage, before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a geological reservoir 2,600 metres under the seabed.