NOK 573 million for green transition projects

‘The Green Platform initiative aims to accelerate the green transition in business and industry. There are many exciting developments under way, and the support we are now providing to these major projects makes an important contribution to the government’s goals for green transition and business growth,’ says Minister of Trade and Industry Jan Christian Vestre.

The Green Platform initiative provides companies and research institutes with funding for research- and innovation-driven green transition. Businesses, research institutions, public-sector organisations and catapult centres work together to deliver major green projects that help Norway successfully transform its economy and business landscape. The nine projects will receive up to NOK 570 million in total and will also make significant contributions of their own, bringing the projects' combined budget to nearly NOK 1 billion.

The Green Platform projects are funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries and administered by the Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and Siva.
We received 155 project outlines for assessment in March, resulting in 52 applications by the June deadline.

‘Circular solutions, optimised energy use and reduced emissions in the transport sector – including new digital solutions – are important measures that will support the green transition in business and industry. Through the Green Platform, we are delivering ambitious projects that address global needs,’ says our CEO, Håkon Haugli.

One of the projects receiving funding is 'Upcycling maritime metal', in which AF Offshore Decom AS and its partners will receive NOK 73 million to develop a new circular industry by upcycling maritime metal from ships and oil platforms into environmentally friendly building materials. The project will help establish circular business models for contracts, testing and recertification, production, and environmental and climate documentation.

Nortura SA will receive NOK 67 million for the project 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Circular solutions and reduced use of virgin plastic for food packaging'. As the project name suggests, the aim is to develop circular solutions for plastic food packaging through reuse and mechanical recycling, while reducing plastic consumption. Changes to the packaging's design, materials and composition must be thoroughly developed and tested to maintain food quality and shelf life, without increasing food waste or the impact on the climate and environment. The project results will enable the companies to meet the stringent legislative proposals expected in the years ahead.

NAVTOR AS and its partners will receive NOK 44 million to develop new commercial AI-enhanced technology and services that optimise energy use on board vessels and ships. This will enable vessel owners and operators to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the green transition by improving vessel performance, maintaining competitiveness and complying with new regulations and agreements.

SINTEF Energi AS and a number of partners will receive NOK 66 million for the MegaCharge project, directly supporting the goal of cutting emissions from the transport sector by 50 per cent by 2030. They will do this by building a complete value chain for developing charging infrastructure for electric heavy-duty transport. MegaCharge will accelerate the rollout of high-power charging infrastructure by developing new knowledge, concepts and technology for megawatt charging of heavy-duty vehicles. MegaCharge's industry partners will develop, build and pilot several of these solutions.

The Aker Solutions Windrise project aims to develop a sustainable and cost-effective solution for the large-scale deployment of offshore wind structures, strengthen competitiveness in the global wind power market and accelerate the transition to affordable, clean energy.
The project will draw on more than five decades of leading technology development in the oil and gas industry to create a new, highly integrated and sustainable system for the mass production, transport and installation of offshore wind structures.

Sintef Manufacturing's SmartSirk project aims to minimise waste by using innovative methods to manufacture new products from used products that have reached the end of their service life. The project will support Norway's manufacturing industry in its transition from linear to circular value chains through a digital information platform, design methods for circular products and flexible remanufacturing processes.

The solutions will be transferable and valuable to the entire manufacturing industry. Today, much of the focus is on recycling. SmartSirk aims to build greater expertise in other circular strategies that sit higher up the waste hierarchy.

NEKKAR AS will develop products and services that enable the replacement of major components on floating offshore wind installations, reducing the financial cost of downtime. The solution will play an important role in scaling up floating offshore wind capacity, which is essential to meet the world's growing energy needs and achieve the necessary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Vianode AS's Greenbox project will develop the green, digital factories of the future for the process industry and lay the foundation for upgrading existing facilities and establishing new zero-emission process industry operations in Norway in the years ahead.

The GreenBox project aims to develop technologies for data capture and advanced process control, enabling more efficient and climate-friendly production methods.
The goal is to demonstrate the technology at Vianode's first large-scale graphite production plant in 2027, before scaling it up for zero-emission silicon production at Elkem and aluminium production at Hydro by 2040–2050.

AVA Ocean AS's OceanGreen project will restore and protect kelp forests along the Norwegian coast, develop technologies for harvesting sea urchins and create commercially viable products from harvested sea urchins.
The project focuses on kelp forest restoration, scalable technologies, the use of sea urchins, collaboration and the revitalisation of coastal communities.