Thursday was a significant day in Hirtshals with visits from Austria and Germany. The Austrian Finance Minister, Magnus Brunner, had expressed a special desire to visit the North Jutland town, which is dedicated to becoming a central location in Denmark for CO2 shipping for storage in depleted oil and gas reservoirs in the North Sea. At the development company Green Port North, which focuses on new green energy solutions and sustainability for the Port of Hirtshals, there was great satisfaction with the visit, which also included German parliamentarian Oliver Grundmann.
- We are honored to have been hosts, as the minister and his team chose to spend a whole day in Hirtshals," says Steen Harding Hintze, CEO of Green Port North, and adds about the Austrian Minister of Finance:
- The minister is also responsible for the subsoil sector, and is faced with the challenge of handling CO2 emissions.
Great potential
Hintze emphasizes that there is no competition between the ports of Esbjerg and Hirtshals for CO2 shipping.
- We do not see ourselves in competition with Esbjerg. There is room for both ports, he states.
The interest from Austria is significant, but it is Germany's decision not to store CO2 on land that really opens up opportunities.
Germany, with its 80 million tons of CO2 annually, has chosen not to store on its own territory. It is difficult to imagine the scale. And several countries are interested in storage solutions, says Hintze.
Three phases ahead
The development towards CCS and eventual storage in the North Sea is divided into three phases.
- We plan to start in 2026 with the first phase, where CO2 will initially be transported here by trucks. In the second phase from around 2028 to 2030, larger companies such as Aalborg Portland will start delivering, says Hintze about the company, which is one of Denmark's largest CO2 emitters.
- In the third phase, we will start importing CO2. A pipeline is expected to be in place at this time, making truck transport unnecessary, explains Hintze about the future, where a pipeline will be able to transport both German and Austrian CO2 for final storage via Hirtshals under the North Sea.
- In addition, CO2 from the Baltic region can also be shipped for storage, as this region does not have geological conditions suitable for CO2 storage, says Steen Harding Hintze.
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