Meeting with the minister confirms North Jutland as a hub for CCUS development

Meeting with the minister confirms North Jutland as a hub for CCUS development

The Minister of Business, Morten Bødskov, visited the business lighthouse CO2Vision on Monday 18 December 2023 together with the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Supply and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others. They met with representatives from the consortium behind CO2Vision; AAU, Aalborg Portland and Erhvervshus Nordjylland to talk about ambitions for next year's effort.

Before the actual partnership meeting between the Minister of Business and Industry and representatives from the CO2Visions consortium got under way, the Minister of Business and Industry first visited a few of the technological CO2Vision projects in North Jutland. In dreary and gray winter weather, there was, among other things, a tour of the Power2Met pilot plant at the harbor in Aalborg and a presentation of the CO2 capture plant at Aalborg Portland.

The participants then went indoors to hold the partnership meeting itself.

Strong state ownership can fulfill several ambitions

At the meeting, the consortium had wishes for the state to fulfill the further ambitions with the commercial lighthouse.

"We are well underway in developing the total value chain for the capture, use, transport and storage of CO2. In order to move forward with the commercialization and scaling of CCUS in North Jutland, we therefore appealed for continued strong state ownership and prioritization of the business beacon CO2Vision across ministries", says Mogens Christen Gade, chairman of the steering group for the consortium.

Specifically, the consortium wants more clarity in relation to the fact that the state generally supports the expansion of the electricity grid in North Jutland and supports the establishment of the relevant hydrogen and CO2 infrastructure in North Jutland. Just as funding for analyses, competence development, guidance of companies and test and demonstration sites for testing and scaling technologies continues to be prioritized.

From North Jutland business lighthouse to international attention

It is clear that, through CO2Vision, Northern Jutland has marked itself on the map when it comes to capturing, using, transporting and storing CO2.

At the partnership meeting itself, it was therefore discussed which specific activities should be launched in order to drive the green transition even further in relation to the perspectives for realizing climate objectives and utilizing the large business perspectives in CO2Vision.

There was great recognition for the great and ambitious work CO2Vision has achieved so far within the entire value chain with tests and demonstrations of technological solutions, guidance for companies, competence development of current and future employees, and analysis work in relation to opportunities and solutions for the infrastructure for transport and storage.

"We have come a long way thanks to government support and with funds from, among others, the Danish Business Promotion Board and the Foundation for Just Transition. Regionally, we are also in a strong position with regional support from both municipalities, companies, educational and knowledge institutions and business promotion actors. An important next step will also be to attract more international companies willing to invest in the CCUS value chain. Here, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the form of Invest in Denmark, can play a central role", says Mogens Christen Gade.

At the partnership meeting, there was a great common understanding of the need to work even more purposefully to create greater international awareness of the North Jutland lighthouse project in order to attract more investment for efforts to capture, use, transport and store CO2.