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LCO2 carriers for Northern Lights CCS project to have rotor sails
Rotor sail manufacturer Norsepower has been commissioned by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC) to provide the wind propulsion systems
The contract between the Chinese shipyard and the Finnish auxiliary wind propulsion systems manufacturer specifies one rotor sail to be used on each of the two liquefied carbon dioxide (LCO2) carriers that will serve the Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies Northern Lights joint venture project to capture and sequester carbon emissions in the North Sea.
The pair of first-of-their-kind LCO2 carriers were designed by the Northern Lights joint venture project and are being built by DSIC, a division within the China State Shipbuilding Corp conglomerate.
Norsepower said the rotor sails will be delivered in early 2023, and the 130-m, 7,500-m³ vessels are expected to be delivered in 2024. After commencing operations, the vessels will fill up with captured and liquefied CO2 from European industrial emitters and carry it to the Northern Lights receiving terminal in Norway’s Øygarden municipality on the country’s west coast near the city of Bergen.
"The two liquefied CO2 carriers [each] will be equipped with one 28 m [height] by 4 m [width] Norsepower rotor sail on each vessel. Following calculations, Norsepower estimates the rotor sails will reduce the fuel and CO2 emissions from each vessel by approximately 5%. The Norsepower rotor sail is a modernised version of the Flettner rotor, a spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power and generate thrust – reducing both fuel consumption and emissions," a statement from Norsepower said.
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- Scaling up CO2 shipping infrastructure
- Equinor awards US$74M contracts for offshore carbon capture project
According to Equinor, the Northern Lights project includes capacity to transport, inject and store up to 1.5M tonnes of CO2 per year. Once the CO2 is captured onshore, it will be transported by the newly designed LCO2 carriers, injected and permanently stored 2,600 m below the seabed of the North Sea.
Funding for the project was approved by the Norwegian Parliament 14 December 2020 with the facilities scheduled to be operational in 2024.
Plans exist to increase the capacity to 5M tonnes per year through additional phases of development and an increasing customer base.
Norsepower chief executive Tuomas Riski said the "Northern Lights JV is setting a global standard for CO2 transportation by ships and highlights the importance of collaboration for accelerating the energy transition. Our technology, alongside an air lubrication system and other clean technologies, will ensure operations are as low carbon as possible. This initiative also highlights the role cleaner shipping has within complex supply chains and decarbonisation strategies outside of the immediate industry. We are pleased to be supporting shipowners in achieving greater climate alignment compliance scores and contributing to the greater sustainability of supply chains as a whole."
The Northern Lights joint venture partners have handed out a multitude of contracts, beginning with the build of the facility. In January 2021, Equinor awarded US$57.5M in contracts for engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the 100-km pipeline and installation of a 36-km umbilical to connect the injection well to the Oseberg A platform, from which the subsea injection facilities will be operated. More recently, the contracts have been vessel-focused since the announcement of the two dedicated LCO2 carrier newbuilding contract in October 2021.
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