At the end of March, it was announced that the financing of the Klemetsrud  carbon capture project (CCS) in Oslo, Norway is in place. Citec and COWI, with many years of joint experience from carbon capture plants, have now been selected as engineering partners.

Thus, everything is in place for the project, which is defined as one of the most important contributors to Oslo and Norway to achieve its climate goals, to be initiated.

For Citec this is great day and the project goes perfectly in hand with our strategy to help our customers to reach their sustainability goals. We highly appreciate Fortum Oslo Varme’s trust for us and are committed to delivering excellent quality.

Johan Westermarck, CEO, Citec Group.

Of the many measures that can help Norway achieve its climate goals, carbon capture is among those with a significant actual climate effect.

The purpose of Citec’s and COWI’s services is to support Fortum Oslo Varme to carry out the engineering, procurement, project management and construction management so that the CCS plant will be constructed and completed for commercial operation within the technical, quality, time and cost frames as agreed between the stakeholders.

Citec’s and COWI’s experts have been part of the Fortum Oslo Varme (FOV) CCS project team since 2016. We have participated in the concept phase, pre-FEED phase and FEED phase. We have been involved in further design optimisations and cost reduction initiatives, the application to the EU Innovation Fund, negotiations of the EPC contract with Technip, a new CO2 capture piloting campaign as well as general benefit realization activities. To document that the technology chosen is suitable for carbon capture, a pilot of the carbon capture facility was built at the Klemetsrud plant. In February 2019, the pilot plant began capturing its first CO₂. During the time since, the pilot has run tests for more than 5,000 hours.

“We are very happy to help Oslo and Norway with its shift to cleaner energy”, says Espen Berg, Managing Director, Citec Norway. It is great feedback for us to selected to be part of the actual realization phase after being involved from starters. We also highly appreciate the great cooperation with our partner COWI”, says Espen.

The carbon capture project is essential for Oslo to have the opportunity to achieve its climate goals in 2030”, says CCS director Jannicke Gerner Bjerkås in Fortum Oslo Varme. “A realization of this project will give significant learning to other Norwegian and European cities that have targets for climate-positive waste handling. We have great confidence that COWI and Citec will contribute to realizing the project, so it feels very good to get this important contract in place.”

“COWI and Citec had the best offer on all award criteria – price, quality and competence”, states the company’s purchasing consultant, Eirik Søraa.

The carbon capture plant at Klemetsrud in Oslo. Photo: Einar Aslaksen for Fortum Oslo Varme.

Facts about carbon capture at Klemetsrud

  • The energy recovery plant at Klemetsrud currently emits approx. 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ each year. About 50% of the CO2 from the combustion is fossil, while the rest is biological CO2.
  • The fossil share of this corresponds to approximately 17% of Oslo’s CO2 emissions
  • These are the largest emissions from a single source in the capital – as large emissions as 200,000 cars create annually
  • Citec and COWI have worked with the carbon capture plant from the concept phase in the autumn of 2016 including the FEED study that started on 1 August 2018
  • An integrated project group was set up to carry out the preliminary project
  • On 31 October 2020, the FEED report for the carbon capture project was submitted for government assessment and quality assurance
  • On 22 March 2022, a new industrial partnership of Hafslund Eco, Infranode and HitecVision announced an agreement to purchase Fortum Oslo Varme and provide financing to realize carbon capture in Oslo.
Photo: Fortum Oslo Varme

Read more about Citec’s carbon capture offering here.