INNISFAIL – They came. They saw. And they asked questions.
Many, many questions in fact.
Innisfailians wanted to know more about Deep Sky’s ambitious and groundbreaking $50 million carbon removal centre now being constructed on five acres of land in the town’s new Southwest Industrial Park.
“It is phenomenal,” said Damien Steel, chief executive officer for Deep Sky, who was front and centre for local citizens on both days, Sept. 18 and 19, for the company’s open house-style public engagement sessions at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre (ILLC).
“I'm not worried about people coming in and asking tough questions,” said Steel. “You know what I'm really worried about? It’s when nobody is showing up because it's a little embarrassing when nobody shows up.
And what do you do?’’’ he added with laughter.
With Steel and many other Deep Sky officials attending, along with town staff and several members of town council, there was no real reason to worry.
Deep Sky’s first session on Sept. 18 went from noon to 3 p.m., a time slot when most interested citizens are at work.
The Community Room at the ILLC was absolutely packed for the session’s first two and half hours.
Deep Sky’s second session on Sept. 19 went from 5 to 8 p.m. to benefit citizens who could only come after work hours.
When the session on Sept. 18 was over a Deep Sky spokesperson told the Albertan that 125 citizens were counted.
Organizers initially hoped that 50 would show up.
Attendees included a few from the opposing militant faction who caused alarm and unrest at the Aug. 12 town council meeting, which resulted in its unprecedented early adjournment.
They too asked questions, and with passion. However, there was never any cause for intervention from attending RCMP and local peace officers.
“I’ve had fascinating conversations with people who had genuine questions, and I wanted to hear them,” said Steel. “We're constantly putting out information, but it's helpful to know what people really care about because you can overwhelm them with science, and sometimes they don't care about the science.
“I had a good question from a farmer who doesn't live too far from the industrial complex, and he's like, ‘hey, I have concerns about noise,” said Steel. “And I'm like, ‘it’s a great question. There are fans. It's kind of like an air conditioning unit.
‘And what we can tell you is from the road you won't be able to hear it,” he added. “And we had a good conversation and he said, ‘that makes sense.”
Construction has begun
Isabelle Callaghan is Deep Sky’s project manager for the new facility in the town’s westside industrial park.
She too is passionate about the project, and was so busy fielding questions on Sept. 18 at the open house she never had a chance to have even a brief moment for the lunch her company prepared for free for all attendees.
Callaghan is a key Deep Sky member who recommended that Innisfail should be the location for the world's first carbon removal innovation and commercialization centre.
Working with the Invest Alberta Corporation beginning in the early spring of this year she wanted to know more about the province’s landscape and to find the right location for the groundbreaking carbon removal facility.
She eventually had eight municipalities to look at, including Innisfail during the first week of May, and then in Didsbury, Sundre and five others outside the region.
There were three main criteria for her in the selection process.
This included whether the necessary infrastructure was there to support the facility.
Another was the land could not be contaminated.
And the last was having the support of the community.
“Not only was it critical for the success of the project it was just important to us that the town was excited and that they were willing to collaborate with us,” said Callaghan. “Because this isn't just another industrial facility. It's really like an incubator centre.
“We're going to have people from all over the world visiting to see these units,” she added. “We're going to have scientists coming in.”
Choosing winning site
The Innisfail site was the first one Callaghan looked at and she was immediately impressed.
“What stood out to me immediately about the site was that it was already zoned industrial, fully graded,” said Callaghan. “It did have the municipal services right there on the property line, and it had an energy interconnection with Fortis right on the property line.
“So, it was essentially like a turnkey lot. I would not have to wait for any infrastructure to be built. The road was already there, even light posts,” she added. “Okay, this is really promising.”
Callaghan later went to the town and had a meeting.
Town officials shared the vision for the industrial area, which included a future municipal solar farm and the planned Varme waste-to-energy plant, all standing together and close to Bilton Welding and Manufacturing Ltd. where the technology for hydrogen-powered locomotives is being developed.
“Industries that are parallel to the energy transition, or supporting energy transition, I thought was unique,” she said. “They had this amazing vision for what the industrial park could be, and it was aligned with our mission as well.
“That certainly stood out to me.”
Callaghan visited the seven other communities. She liked them all.
But Innisfail was the clear winner.
“We would be coming into a site (Innisfail) where they were excited about having us there, and also we'd be a part of an ecosystem where we were aligned with the other industries in the park,” said Callaghan.
A 10-year lease-to-own agreement deal between the Town of Innisfail and Deep Sky was then put together quickly.
It’s a deal that will see the community receiving an average annual payment of $75,500; funds that will go directly into local coffers.
Shovels then went into the ground at the Southwest Industrial Park site on Aug 20.
“Another thing that was insanely impressive about how quickly we're able to pull it together was that we had to do geotechnical studies,” said Callaghan, adding a lot of civil and concrete work at the site now needs to be done before the winter freeze sets in.
She said the facility will then become operational in phases beginning this winter with the first shipment of CO2 “probably” being possible to achieve by the middle of April of next year, assuming there are no issues with the technology.
“It's going to be at least until this spring that you're going to see 30 tons of CO2 leave the plant,” said Callaghan.
What is best for her is that she’s witnessing historic innovation being made with cutting-edge technology she believes will have a positive impact for everyone.
“For me its incredible to be part of this,” added Callaghan. “It's not every lifetime that you get to say you're at the beginning of a new industry and on such a special team as this, and one that's Canadian based.
“I grew up in Nova Scotia, actually working on a farm was how I spent my summers as a child,” she said. “We saw a lot of the impacts of changing climate in Nova Scotia with the erosion of our shorelines.
“Working on a farm, I saw many summers where our fields were essentially destroyed by drought,” she added. “Working to support technologies or companies that are trying to help bring our world back to a more stable climate is important.
“To be a part of it is immensely special for me, and something that I've always dreamed about.”
