Wanting to learn more about carbon capture, several women and a few men attended a NODE Eyde Women event at Returkraft this week.

Faced with a sharp increase in the Norwegian CO2 tax in coming years, the intermunicipal waste-to-energy plant located just north of downtown Kristiansand plans to build a carbon capture facility to reduce emissions.

“In 2030, we expect it will be more costly to release CO2 than to capture CO2. Thus, from a financial perspective, it makes sense to invest in carbon capture. Also, it is impossible to reach national and global climate goals without carbon capture,” says Benedichte Limmesand Hellestøl, Project Director Carbon Capture at Returkraft.

Ketil Bergmann, Project Manager Carbon Capture at Returkraft, gave a presentation of the carbon capture test facility. Left-right: Siren Neset (NORCE), Ann Marchioro (GCE NODE) and Kristine Fuller-Gee (Eyde Cluster).

An investment decision is expected in 2027. The carbon capture facility could be operational by 2030.
A year ago, Hellestøl gave a presentation of the carbon capture plans during another NODE Eyde Women (NEW) event.

“We were keen on learning more about the progress and how Returkraft specifically works with carbon capture and sustainable solutions, and which technology choices have been made. It is inspiring to see a regional energy company is taking an active role in global climate work,” says Veronica Aasbø Frøland, Chair of the NEW Board of Directors.

For more than ten years, NODE Eyde Women (NEW) has played a pivotal role in recruiting and supporting women in two heavily male dominated industries.

“Having networks for the women of the industries is still important, even though a lot has changed over the years. We need an arena for competence building, for inspiration, and for creating a professional community across disciplines, roles and gender,” says Frøland.

Left-right: Ketil Bergmann, Project Manager Carbon Capture at Returkraft, Benedichte Limmesand Hellestøl, Project Director Carbon Capture at Returkraft, Veronica Aasbø Frøland, Chair of the NEW Board of Directors, and Siv Emanuelsen, Event Coordinator at NEW.
Returkraft is a massive waste-to-energy facility.

The Norwegian company World Wide Wind has entered into a technical cooperation agreement with theTaiwanese government research organization Metal Industries Research & Development Center (MIRDC).

The aim is to further develop and verify World Wide Wind’s Counter Rotating Axis Floating Tilted (CRAFT) turbine.

The aim is to provide full technical verification for global markets and cater for specific metocean conditions in Taiwanese waters.

In the initial project in 2025, a detailed computer model will be developed to execute coupled hydrodynamic and aerodynamic analyses to establish operational load patterns, movements in six degrees of freedom and all relevant structural responses.

The theoretical models will be validated with scaled down model tests in the MIRDC ocean test basin. The basin tests will also be used to optimize the design.

Upon successful completion of the initial project, both parties intend to develop the CRAFT turbine further jointly.

“This is an important milestone for World Wide Wind,” says CEO Stian Valentin Knutsen.

“The co-operation with MIRDC will be a major step forward towards delivering a commercial and economically competitive floating offshore wind solution for Taiwan and for the global market,” says Knutsen.

55 years after the first oil was discovered on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, only half of the total oil and gas resources have been extracted.

“We estimate the total Norwegian resources to be 15.6 billion standards oil equivalents. Approximately half of these have been produced. We believe that 22 per cent of the remaining oil and gas have yet to be found,” said Kalmar Ildstad, Director at the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (Sokkeldirektoratet).

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate expects continued exploration missions to uncover more oil and gas resources, adding to the 94 fields already in operation, and the more than 20 ongoing larger project currently developed.

“30 to 40 exploration wells will be drilled in 2025 and we foresee the same level for many years to come. Total oil and gas investments on the Norwegian Continental Shelf are believed to be NOK 150-200 billion annually till 2030,” said Ildstad.

Output from the Norwegian sector has been stable for three decades. Going forward, Ildstad and his colleagues see a substantial dip in production.

“Most operational fields will face reduced production levels. More than 60 per cent of the areas that are operational today will close by 2040. Half of the current output stem from wells drilled during the last five years,” said Ildstad.

Ole Falk Hansen is the CEO of Nekkar.

TOP LEADER FORUM
He was one of the keynote speakers at the GCE NODE Top Leader Forum in Kristiansand Tuesday. The biannual forum gathers high level managers from companies participating in the cluster.

Other keynote speakers included Andreas Svanlund who gave insight into the geopolitical situation, and Ole Falk Hansen, CEO of Nekkar, who talked about how competence from the oil and gas sector is utilized in other industries.

Knut Mjåland, CEO of GCE NODE, rounded off the forum with an introduction to a new era for the cluster, dubbed GCE NODE 5.0.

“An action plan is currently in the making,” said Mjåland.

Andreas Svanlund, CCO at Safeclean, provided insights into international affairs.
Knut Mjåland, CEO of GCE NODE, presented plans for GCE NODE 5.0.
75 people attended the Top Leader Forum in Kristiansand.