Calgary, AB - Yesterday, the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources, announced that the Government of Canada will fund eight proposals for the development and demonstration of carbon capture and storage technologies through the ecoENERGY Technology initiative.

"Canada’s tremendous reserves of energy will remain an important source of economic strength for a long time to come," said Minister Raitt. "The major challenge we face today comes from identifying and implementing cleaner ways to produce and consume that energy. Our Government’s support for the development of these innovative and promising technologies is just one of a number of important steps we’re taking toward building a greener and more sustainable energy economy."

Successful proposals were submitted by partnerships led or co-led by ARC Resources, Enhance Energy, Spectra Energy Transmission, TransCanada, TransAlta, Husky, Enbridge and EPCOR. Minister Raitt met with the CEOs of each of these companies on Thursday, March 26th, along with representatives from the B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan governments to establish a network that will share research and expertise in developing and demonstrating carbon capture and storage technologies.

Canada’s Economic Action Plan includes new measures totalling almost $2.4 billion to help meet Canada's climate change objectives.

The $230-million ecoENERGY Technology initiative was launched in 2007 to support the development of technologies to increase Canada’s supply of clean energy, reduce energy waste and reduce the environmental impact of the production and use of conventional energy. It is one of a series of ecoENERGY initiatives through which the Government of Canada is investing a total of $3.6 billion to increase production of cleaner energy and cleaner fuels and increase energy efficiency.

The eight successful projects were selected in response to a call for proposals issued by the Government of Canada in April 2008. Under the ecoENERGY Technology initiative, up to $140 million will be invested in these projects to support industry-led research, development and demonstration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.

Successful Projects

Heartland Area Redwater Project (HARP)

Lead proponent: ARC Resources
Source: Industrial facilities

Area: Fort Saskatchewan—Heartland—Redwater area in central Alberta

Purpose: This project is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of safe CO2 storage in the Redwater Leduc Reef, situated northeast of Edmonton, Alberta. This site is located close to the Alberta Industrial Heartland region, where there are a number of large industrial sources of greenhouse gas emissions, including chemical and fertilizer plants and several oil sands upgraders that are operating, being built or in the planning stages.

Integrated Carbon Capture and Enhanced Oil Recovery

Lead proponent: Enhance Energy
Source: Large fertilizer plant and an oil sands upgrading operation

Area: Alberta Industrial Heartland, northeast of Edmonton

Purpose: This project involves the capture of CO2 emissions from industrial sites in the Alberta Industrial Heartland. The captured CO2 will be transported to mature oil reservoirs in central Alberta, where it will be injected for enhanced oil recovery purposes and permanent sequestration. The project will capture CO2 from two sources: a large fertilizer plant and an oil sands upgrading operation (awaiting construction) to demonstrate the feasibility of a single network to collect CO2 from a large number of industrial emitters.

Fort Nelson Exploratory Project

Lead proponent: Spectra Energy Transmission
Source: Natural gas processing plant

Area: Fort Nelson, B.C.

Purpose: This project represents the first phase of research toward a world-scale carbon capture and storage project associated with Spectra Energy’s existing gas processing plant in Fort Nelson, B.C. Raw natural gas contains high levels of CO2, which processing strips away. If proven feasible, the CO2 would be compressed, dehydrated, cooled into a concentrated stream and then injected into deep saline formations more than two kilometres underground for permanent sequestration.

Pioneer Project

Lead proponent: TransAlta
Source: Coal-fired power plant 

Area: 70 km west of Edmonton, Alberta

Purpose: Pioneer is a large-scale carbon capture and storage project proposed for the Keephills Thermal Electric Power Generation Plant. TransAlta is proposing to construct one of the world’s first large-scale CCS facilities that will perform several functions: integrate leading-edge, post-combustion, chilled ammonia capture technology with a power plant to capture one megatonne per year of CO2; transport the CO2 for use in enhanced oil recovery and to a permanent geological storage site; demonstrate safe, secure, large-scale permanent storage in saline aquifers; and deliver significant reductions in CO2 emissions by 2012.

Belle Plaine Integrated Polygeneration CCS Project

Lead Proponent: TransCanada
Source: Electricity power plant 

Area: Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan

Purpose: This project proposes to conduct pre-front end engineering and design and other work as a prerequisite to a decision to go forward with a $5-billion project to build and commission a polygeneration facility in Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan. If the facility is constructed, large volumes of petcoke (a low-value product of heavy oil upgrading) would be gasified and used to produce a number of products, including hydrogen, steam and sulphur, and to generate up to 500 MW in electricity to potentially displace aging coal-fired generation stations in Saskatchewan.

CO2 Injection in Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Lead Proponent: Husky Energy Inc.
Source: Oil upgrader and ethanol plant

Area: Lloydminster, Saskatchewan

Purpose: This project will focus on targeted R&D activities to develop new knowledge and methods for enhanced oil recovery in heavy oil reservoirs, using injected CO2 that could be permanently stored in the reservoirs, a new approach in heavy oil extraction. This work will help lead to the capture of CO2 from Husky's upgrader and ethanol plant and transport and inject it into heavy oil reservoirs located adjacent to the upgrader to enhance oil recovery.

Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP) / Genesee Post-Combustion Demonstration Plant
Lead proponents: Enbridge and EPCOR
NOTE: As these two projects are designed to integrate with one another, they have been combined for purposes of funding under the ecoENERGY Technology initiative.
Source: Coal-fired power plant 

Area: West of Edmonton, Alberta

Purpose: EPCOR's Genesee Post-Combustion Demonstration Plant involves the construction of a demonstration facility that will capture CO2 from a greenfield coal-fired power plant (150 MW net) in Alberta. The captured CO2 will be transported through collaboration with Enbridge and the Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP).

For more detailed information on each project, visit www.nrcan.gc.ca/media/newcom/2009/200918a-eng.php.

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