While an array of proposals are progressing in Alberta, only a few have been given the green light by project proponents to start construction, showing the difficulty in making the economics work
Getting carbon capture projects to the starting blocks has proven a difficult haul in Alberta, but another corporate heavyweight is pitching a major initiative in the province’s power sector.
GE Vernova Canada CEO Heather Chalmers told a carbon capture and storage conference in Calgary that the company is working on a 465-megawatt gas-fired power facility in Alberta.
It would include CO2 capture and a pipeline to an underground storage hub.
The Moraine Power Generation Project, about 10 kilometres west of Whitecourt, is still in the planning stages. If built, it would supply baseload power to Alberta’s power grid, while offering the international company valuable front-line information about carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology deployed in the electricity industry.
“We’re involved in different CCUS projects around the world . . . The one that I’m really excited to talk about is the project that we’re developing here in Alberta,” Chalmers told the international Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies conference on Monday.
“Typically, we don’t play the developer role. We are a technology provider. But our rationale here is to understand the entire ecosystem of CCUS.”
The project is just one of several proposed carbon capture initiatives being eyed in Alberta across a number of industries, from petrochemicals, natural gas and the oilsands sector, to cement and electricity generation.
As the world focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and countries strive to meet international commitments to tackle climate change, carbon capture is viewed as a proven technology that can help decarbonize difficult-to-abate sectors, although it faces opposition from some corners.
According to data from the Global CCS Institute, the number of project proposals has jumped in the past seven years, with 628 now in the development pipeline. That’s up 60 per cent during the past 12 months.
Across the world, 50 projects are now in operation — including in Alberta — and 44 more are in various stages of construction.
Alberta has a long history with carbon capture. The Stelmach government invested more than $1 billion in projects like the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line and Quest project.
These moves have helped de-risk the technology over the years, Jarad Daniels, CEO of the Global CCS Institute, said on the sidelines of the conference.
(The conference, co-hosted by Emissions Reduction Alberta and the technology collaboration program of the International Energy Agency, has attracted about 1,500 delegates from 45 countries.)
While an array of proposals are progressing in Alberta, only a few have been given the green light by project proponents to start construction, showing the difficulty in making the economics work.
There is a “unique opportunity for carbon capture and storage here in Canada,” Shell Canada president Susannah Pierce told the conference.
“CCS offers a viable option now to capture and store these emissions.”
The Shell-operated Quest carbon capture project has been operating in the province since 2015, storing more than nine million tonnes of CO2.
The province has the geology that allows for emissions to be stored underground, and Alberta has deep energy expertise and established infrastructure in place.
The province also has an existing regulatory system and a new grant program for CCUS developments. (Ottawa offers a federal investment tax credit that will cover up to half of a development’s capital costs, as well as carbon contracts for difference that can help lock in the future price of carbon.)
However, it’s a complex process to get large projects built.
While the project was technically feasible, CCUS on large-scale power generation facilities will require government support and policy certainty, Capital Power senior vice-president Jason Comandante said.
“We discontinued the project, and I do see a pathway forward for it,” Comandante said during a panel on Monday.
“It’s just going to depend on some changing elements across the landscape for us to bring it back.”
Moraine Initiatives — a subsidiary of GE Vernova, which was spun out of General Electric earlier this year — is evaluating its power generation project in Alberta.
It would include combined-cycle gas turbines, integrated with post-combustion carbon capture equipment, and be built in Woodlands County.
“We’re pulling together all the necessary items of certainty around the costing framework,” Chalmers said in an interview.
“We want to learn the entire workings of this project . . . and start to work with our clients all around the world, where we’ve got over 7,000 gas turbines installed that need to be ultimately decarbonized.”
Moraine’s website says construction could start in the first quarter of 2025, with operations starting near the end of 2027, although a company official said that’s been delayed by at least a year.
The proponent has not yet filed a regulatory application with the Alberta Utilities Commission.
The company still needs to see carbon revenue certainty, power market stability, clear federal and provincial incentives and timely regulatory approvals to move ahead, Ankur Mathur, a senior vice-president with GE Vernova, said Tuesday.
“The (existing) policy incentives and supports are directionally helpful, but significant uncertainty remains,” Mathur said.
Woodlands County Reeve Dave Kusch noted the proponents held public meetings on the project last year, and he’s hopeful construction will begin in 2025.
“I’d love to see it go.”
Chris Varcoe is a Calgary Herald columnist.