The UK and Norway have agreed a new Green Industrial Partnership, which is set to support clean energy investment in the North Sea, including both green hydrogen as well as offshore wind.
Focused on key areas that support the development of renewables, the Green industrial Partnership’s scope includes offshore wind and grid development, collaboration on the protection of UK and Norwegian offshore infrastructure, and reducing barriers to develop a North Sea hub for the cross-border storage of carbon dioxide – considering it is estimated the UK’s seas could store up to 78 billion tonnes of it.
Visiting Oslo to agree the deal with his Norwegian counterparts, Terje Aasland and Cecilie Myrseth, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband met with a number of energy companies in an effort to deepen bilateral relationships and make the case for clean energy investment in Britain. Equinor, for example, is already playing a key part in pushing forward the energy transition with investment in UK offshore wind, carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen, while Statkraft, Fred Olsen and Vårgrønn were also noted as important.
Miliband said: “Energy security is national security – and only by working with key partners like Norway can we accelerate clean power that we control, getting us off the rollercoaster of fossil fuels in these unstable times. Together we can invest in a clean energy future and take advantage of the opportunities ahead in the North Sea.”
