Buildings supplier Heidelberg Materials has officially inaugurated Brevik CCS in Norway, billed as the world’s first industrial-scale CCS facility in the cement industry.
Brevik CCS will capture around 400,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, representing 50% of the plant’s emissions.
The facility is part of the Norwegian government’s Longship project, developing Europe’s first full-scale value chain for carbon capture, transport, and storage from hard-to-abate industries.
Within Longship, the Northern Lights initiative – a collaboration between Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies – is the partner responsible for the carbon transport and storage. The second phase was officially approved by the Norway government today.
The CO2 captured in Brevik will be liquefied and shipped to an onshore terminal on the Norwegian west coast. From there, it will be transported by pipeline to permanent storage under the North Sea.
Dr Dominik von Achten, Chairman of the Managing Board of Heidelberg Materials during the ceremony, said today marks a “tectonic shift” in the built environment.
“The opening of Brevik CCS is a tremendous technological achievement that will serve as a blueprint for entire industries as we progress towards Net Zero and into a new era of sustainable construction,” he said.
Norwegian Minister of Energy Terje Aasland said the collaboration can foster innovation and kick start development of nascent markets for climate technology.
First volumes of CO2 have already been successfully captured, liquefied, and temporarily stored, following Northern Lights starting first shipments to their intermediate storage site in Øygarden in June.
Subsequently, Heidelberg Materials will begin to deliver evoZero, the carbon captured cement enabling Net Zero concrete, to customers in Europe.