A carbon dioxide (CO2) transport and storage project that underpins the UK’s East Coast Cluster carbon capture initiative will first need to be certified by assurance provider DNV.
The Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) selected DNV to verify that the project’s construction and operation comply with the CO2 transport and storage licence granted by the UK government.
The project is a partnership between energy companies BP, Equinor, and TotalEnergies aimed at developing the pipelines and offshore storage solutions to support East Coast Cluster projects – a cluster of carbon capture projects designed to decarbonise key UK industrial areas in Teesside and the Humber.
NEP will transport CO2 captured from industrial emitters in Teesside for permanent storage beneath the southern North Sea.
“For NEP, this means verifying design integrity, construction quality and commissioning readiness, so that when CO2 first flows, the system performs as intended,” said Hari Vamadevan, Senior Vice-President and Regional Director for the UK & Ireland, Energy Systems at DNV.
DNV’s scope spans the full transport chain from receipt of CO2 to the offshore pipeline and injection system.
“Independent certification … will [help] to provide confidence that this nationally significant infrastructure is being developed to the highest standards,” said Rich Denny, Managing Director at NEP.
It is now mandatory for UK carbon capture and storage projects to obtain independent certification.
A 2021 map of the Northern Endurance Partnership ©OGCI
DNV has played a similar verification and assurance role across several carbon capture and storage projects globally.
These include Project Greensand in Denmark, where it approved the cross-border CO2 transport and storage, and Net Zero Teesside Power in the UK, where it is providing quality assurance and site inspection services.
The company has also supported state-owned energy company Adnoc’s West Aquifer CO2 Storage Project in the UAE, verifying the technical feasibility of the storage site, and is working on Project Bifrost in the Danish North Sea alongside Danish energy operator Ørsted.
