The community of Longyearbyen in Svalbard is an ideal location for testing technologies related to carbon capture and storage (CCS). Longyearbyen is a closed energy system, it has a coal fuelled power plant, and its geological structures are suited for storing CO2.

The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) has taken the initiative to use these natural advantages to turn Longyearbyen into a show case, demonstrating the CO2 value chain. It’s the ambition of UNIS to develop high level educational courses as part of the project.

A motivation for the project is the global need for CO2 injection test sites. We need to know more about storability and methods and risks of subsurface leakage. Svalbard’s environmental standing and global attention, with numerous high profile visitors every year, substantiate the ambition to become a globally recognized “green” show case.

The first step of the CO2 lab is to identify saline aquifers where CO2 can be stored. Three wells were drilled in 2007 and 2008 which cored the cap rock and upper reservoir. Seismic assessments have been added. A fourth well was drilled in the fall of 2009 to verify the storage capabilities of the sandstones. This was confirmed in November 2009. A number of partners from industries and the academic world have joined the effort.

It is our goal to move on to carbon capture when storage capabilities have been explored and mapped.