Saskatchewan committed to proceeding with $1.2 billion CAD carbon capture and storage (CCS) project while Alberta moves away from CCS

Despite the decision in Alberta to step away from a carbon capture and storage project, officials in Saskatchewan say they remain committed to the $1.2 billion CAD project at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam power station near Estevan, which has received $240 million CAD in funding from the federal government.

SaskPower is aiming to demonstrate that carbon dioxide from a coal-fired generating station can be captured post-combustion and safely stored or used for enhanced oil recovery projects in the oilpatch.
 


Illustration by Karen Petkau for the Calgary Herald based on files and information from the Alberta Geological Survey

Rob Norris, the government minister responsible for SaskPower, said the technology being used for the Saskatchewan project is different than what was being pursued in the now-stalled Alberta project, which involved using chilled ammonia to strip carbon dioxide out of emissions from TransAlta Corp.’s new Keephills 3 coal-fired generation station. TransAlta estimated the technology would eliminate one million tonnes of greenhouse gas a year.

The gas then would have been used to enhance oil production by injecting it into mature wells, as well as stored in deep saline aquifers.

Alberta ceding ground on the carbon capture front may create additional opportunities for Saskatchewan, Norris said.

“In a sense, we’re more confident today than the first day that we announced because we have partners coming on side. We see the support that we’re receiving internationally,” Norris said. “I think the eyes of the world are focused on the success that Saskatchewan is having on clean coal and carbon sequestration, building on a decade of our work.”

SaskPower president and CEO Robert Watson said the Boundary Dam project is on track to come in on budget, and should be in full production by spring 2014.

Watson said he expects Saskatchewan — which has also partnered with Hitachi on a carbon capture test facility in southeastern Saskatchewan — to be at a point in a few years where it can charge interested parties around the world for the expertise that has been developed. Watson said he also anticipates a solid market for the CO2 that is captured.

“There is nothing that has actually come off our original business plan. Our original business plan was put in place to make sure the project came in as good as you would build a gas plant because not only is the technology important but the economics are important. If we come in remotely as close as building a gas plant then we’re golden because we’re sitting on a 300 year supply of (coal).”

Sources (in part): National Post, Calgary Herald, Government of Saskatchewan Press Release