Aker Solutions turns to Norwegian firm for personnel on Northern Lights expansion project

Norway-based energy services provider Aker Solutions has hired Multiconsult Norge to supply qualified personnel on a hire-in basis to work as an integral part of its project team, representing the civil disciplines, for the second phase of Northern Lights, part of the Longship full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.

The contract with Aker Solutions will enable Multiconsult to provide key civil engineering expertise for the Northern Lights Phase 2 project, where Equinor acts as technical service provider on behalf of the Northern Lights joint venture, encompassing Equinor, Shell, and TotalEnergies. 

Multiconsult will hire personnel from its fully owned subsidiary, LINK Arkitektur, to support the architectural aspects of certain parts of the CO2 transport and storage development, for which a final investment decision (FID) to progress phase two was made at the end of March 2025 to boost the project’s transport and storage capacity from 1.5 million to over 5 million tons of CO2 per year from 2028.

Grethe Bergly, Multiconsult’s CEO, commented: “The Northern Lights project plays a key role in the reduction of industrial emissions in Europe and fits well into our strategy of being an enabler of the green transition. Therefore, I am very pleased that Multiconsult has received a contract also for the second phase of this groundbreaking project.”

Furthermore, Multiconsult’s scope of work encapsulates detailed design and site supervision of civil works for the substation building, foundations for all equipment, and the outdoor area. This project aligns with the firm’s strategic goals of contributing to sustainable development and environmental protection.

With a contract value of around NOK 27 million (about $2.6 million), increasing to around NOK 40 million ($3.87 million), including site supervision. The initial work is set to begin during the second quarter of 2025. The majority of Multiconsult’s work under this contract is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026, with the entire project planned to be completed by 2028.

Northern Lights Phase 1, for which an official opening ceremony in Øygarden, near Bergen, was held on September 26, 2024, signaling the facility’s readiness to receive and store CO2, is part of Norway’s Longship project that will establish a full-scale value chain for CO2 capture, transport, and storage services.

Deals for Phase 2, which is enabled by a grant from the Connecting Europe Facility for Energy (CEF Energy) funding scheme, were handed out to Subsea7 and Aker Solutions by Equinor.

The deal for Northern Lights Phase 2 comes months after Multiconsult, in collaboration with Aker Solutions and LINK Arkitektur, got a contract for early stage engineering services related to the electrification of oil and gas installations in the Halten, Tampen, and Grane/Balder areas off the coast of Norway.