From 16 to 19 June 2024, Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium, led an economic mission to the Kingdom of Norway. A broad economic and academic delegation traveled to Oslo to promote Belgium as an attractive partner and gateway to the European market. The program included meetings with local companies, seminars and company visits to the main players in the Belgian economy present in Norway. Additionally, there were exchanges between Belgian and Norwegian academics aimed at expanding cooperation between research institutions.
Norway and Belgium share strong and longstanding trade relations, with energy playing an important role. ENGIE and Equinor were important participants of the mission. The two partners of the H2BE project had the chance to present their longstanding relationship and to elaborate on the development of H2BE that, once in operation, will produce 200 000 tonnes of low carbon hydrogen per year at the ENGIE Rodenhuize site in North Sea Port (Ghent). This low carbon hydrogen, as well as other carbon capture (and usage) projects (CCUS), will allow the decarbonization of hard to abate industrials, who are key to the Belgian economy and will help Belgium achieve its greenhouse gas reduction targets.
During the mission Equinor and ENGIE hosted a roundtable dinner with participants from industry, ports and infrastructure and policy representatives of Flanders, Wallonia and the Belgian Federal level. The ‘Oslo Declaration’ on Carbon Capture Use and Storage (CCUS) was signed by both H2BE partners and the other Belgian industrial players. The declaration, which was handed over to Belgian policymakers, calls for the necessary support to develop the low carbon value chains. CCUS solutions are an important lever to reach net zero carbon. It is important for Belgium to extend its current energy hub role for natural gas and power towards hydrogen and CO2. Realizing a large project at scale like H2BE will contribute to this and kickstart the hydrogen and CO2 value chains in Belgium.
The mission was concluded with a visit at the ‘Northern Lights’ site, Norway’s first commercial storage for CO2 on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Equinor is one of the major investors of Northern Lights. The project has developed the world’s first open-source CO2 transport and storage infrastructure. When finalized later this fall, it will provide a safe and permanent storage option for CO2 that is removed from industrial processes.
