Secures expansion of carbon capture

Cautus Geo has set up a comprehensive monitoring programme for the Northern Lights expansion in Øygarden. “This safeguards the work and provides good documentation,” says Roy Gunnar Bergland, project manager at Skanska.

Northern Lights is a carbon capture and storage facility. The plant has been in operation since 2025. It is now set to undergo a major expansion. Its capacity is to be increased from 1.5 million cubic metres to at least five million cubic metres.

Skanska has been a key contractor in the construction of the facility since work began in 2020. The company is now building, amongst other things, a new quay and mooring facilities for 200-metre-long ships.

– “We’re going to blast and anchor the solution into challenging rock. Rock has been blasted away both on land and out at sea,” says Bergland of Skanska.

Geotechnically challenging

– This is a geotechnically challenging construction project in difficult mountainous terrain. We’re talking about pioneering work here. We’ll need to blast out a section of rock before we can construct a platform with a 60-metre quay frontage. There’s a lot to keep an eye on, in terms of tremors, cracking, stability, noise, vibrations and the potential for particles to be dispersed into the sea,’ says Bergland.

Cautus Geo has set up a comprehensive system to monitor stability, cracks, noise, anchoring devices and the potential dispersal of particles into the sea. In addition, a fish farm in the fjord will continue to operate as normal throughout the construction period.

– Cautus Geo’s comprehensive package is excellent, with a user-friendly web portal. It brings together real-time monitoring data. This is beneficial for us and for the client. It provides the reliable, up-to-date information and documentation we need, says Bergland.

A lot of blasting work

A total of 11,000 cubic metres will be excavated from the sea and 5,000 cubic metres from land. Various structures will be put in place for mooring and support.

– “The challenge here largely concerns geotechnical engineering, including rock reinforcement, marine excavation and fish farms within 1,000 metres of the new quay. Monitoring is therefore absolutely essential. It is crucial to have control over and documentation of the work being carried out,” says Bergland.

The installation of various sensors began in 2025. “We will continue monitoring until the expansion work is complete,” says Bjørnar Neveland Knudsen of Cautus Geo.

The expansion of the plant in Øygarden is due to be completed in 2027.

– We have set thresholds with automatic alarms for everything that is monitored and everything that is to be monitored. 

MONITORING EQUIPMENT:

• SAAV (3×25-metre inclinometer on a rock face, facing the sea).
• Environmental buoys fitted with turbidity meters.
• Load cells (to be installed later in the project).
• Vibration meters.
• Strain gauge (monitors cracks in rock).
• CL2 logger.
• Cautus Web, configured to trigger an alarm if pre-set thresholds are exceeded.