As of September 30, 2016, the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technologies program at MIT has closed. The website is being kept online as a reference but will not be updated.

Naturkraft Kårstø Fact Sheet: Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Project

Company/Alliance: Naturkraft, owned 50-50 by Norstk Hydro, Statkraft and Gassnova

Location: Kårstø, Rogaland, Western Norway

Feedstock: Natural Gas

Size: 420 MW, 1.2 Mt/yr

Capture Technology: Post-combustion: Amine

CO2 Fate: Sequestration in seabed and/or EOR

Timing: Original timing: Power plant opened November 2007, electricity production without carbon capture and storage (2007), investment decision (2008), and commissioning (2011-2012). Delayed in 2009 with no update on when it will start.

Motivation/Economics:

The costs of the project are NOK 5275 million ($950 million US) (2006) for the planning phase, NOK 3.46 billion (US$600 million) for the carbon capture plant, and NOK 1.56 billion (US$270 million) for transportation and storage. The capture rate will be approximately 85%. Five potential storage sites have been evaluated: Heimdal, Karmsundet, Coastal (Kystnært) Utsira, Nordøst Frigg, and Sleipner.

Comments:

In March 2010 Gassco and Gassnova presented an Kårstø Integration pre-feasibility study. The objective of this Kårstø Integration Pre-feasibility Study was to describe potential integration opportunities at Kårstø including technical, environmental, safety, commercial issues and arrangements.

In the National Budget for 2011, presented in October 2010, were there no grants to continue the process on Kårstø. The government stated then that they will consider the future of the project during their work on the new climate policy this year.

The EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) decided to authorise state funding to Gassnova SF (March 2009) in order to cover the costs of establishing the CCS project for 10 years. The plant will need to be retrofitted with a capture facility that will be ten times as large as the largest existing plant for separation of CO2 from gas turbine exhaust. Annual operating costs assuming 8000 hours of operation are estimated to be NOK 370 million (US$64 million), leading to a cost of NOK 700 (US $121) per ton of CO2 abated. CO2 maybe provided for EOR in Statoil Volve Field.

Project Link: Norway’s updates on Naturkraft Kårstø

Other Sources and Press Release:
Norway State aid award for Karsto ( January 2009)
ESA approved CCS project at Kårstø (March 2009)
Technical, economic and scheduling aspects of a CCS facility at Kårstø [PDF] (Dec 2006)
Building new power plants in a CO2 constrained world: A Case Study from Norway on Gas-Fired Power Plants, Carbon Sequestration, and Politics [PDF] (May 2001)