Meeting with Minister Confirms North Jutland as a Hub for CCUS Development
On Monday, December 18, 2023, Minister of Business Morten Bødskov visited the CO2Vision business hub together with representatives from the Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Utilities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others. They met with representatives from the consortium behind CO2Vision—AAU, Aalborg Portland, and Erhvervshus Nordjylland—to discuss their ambitions for the coming year’s efforts.
Before the actual partnership meeting between the Minister of Business and representatives from the CO2Vision consortium began, the Minister of Business first visited a couple of the CO2Vision technology projects in North Jutland. Amid dreary, gray winter weather, the visit included a tour of the Power2Met pilot plant at the port of Aalborg and a presentation of the CO2 capture facility at Aalborg Portland.
After that, the participants went indoors to hold the partnership meeting itself.
Strong government ownership can help achieve more goals
At the meeting, the consortium presented its requests to the government in order to realize its future ambitions for the business hub.
“We are well on our way to developing the entire value chain for the capture, utilization, transport, and storage of CO2. To move forward with the commercialization and scaling of CCUS in North Jutland, we therefore called for continued strong government leadership and prioritization of the CO2Vision industry initiative across ministries.” , says Mogens Christen Gade, chair of the consortium’s steering committee.
Specifically, the consortium seeks greater clarity regarding the government’s general support for the expansion of the power grid in North Jutland and its backing for the establishment of the relevant hydrogen and CO2 infrastructure in North Jutland. It also wants continued prioritization of funding for analyses, skills development, guidance for businesses, and test and demonstration sites for testing and scaling technologies.
From a North Jutland Business Beacon to International Recognition
It is clear that, through CO2Vision, North Jutland has made its mark on the map when it comes to the capture, utilization, transport, and storage of CO2.
At the partnership meeting itself, discussions therefore focused on which specific activities should be launched to drive the green transition even further forward in light of the prospects for achieving climate goals and capitalizing on the significant business opportunities presented by CO2Vision.
There was widespread recognition of the extensive and ambitious work CO2Vision has accomplished to date across the entire value chain, including testing and demonstrating technological solutions, providing guidance to companies, skills development for current and future employees, and analysis of opportunities and solutions for transportation and storage infrastructure.
“We have come a long way thanks to government support and funding from, among others, the Danish Business Promotion Board and the Fund for a Just Transition. Regionally, we are also in a strong position, with support from municipalities, businesses, educational and research institutions, and business development organizations. 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, through Invest in Denmark, can play a central role.” , says Mogens Christen Gade.
At the partnership meeting, there was broad consensus on the need to work even more purposefully to raise international awareness of the North Jutland flagship project in order to attract more investment in efforts related to the capture, utilization, transport, and storage of CO2.
