OLDS — Town council has voted to send a letter of support for a carbon capture and storage proposal which proponents say could boost the economy of central Alberta.
Councillor Darren Wilson, Heather Ryan and Wanda Blatz outlined the proposal and their support for it.
Wilson said the project, proposed by Enhance Energy, was outlined during a Zoom call and sponsored by the Central Alberta Economic Partnership (CAEP).
Enhance Energy planned to present the proposal for carbon capture and sequestration to the Alberta government on Feb. 1.
Wilson said in essence, carbon dioxide (CO2) would be captured, then reinjected into oil and gas reservoirs as part of enhanced oil and gas recovery projects.
"The whole intent of the project is to move Alberta – and certainly Canada – forward around net zero greenhouse gas emissions, so capturing CO2 is obviously a big part of that,” Wilson said.
The Canadian government earlier announced the goal of becoming carbon neutral (balancing the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere with the amount absorbed or removed from the atmosphere) by 2050.
Wilson, Ryan and Blatz all said the project has the potential to inject large amounts of money into central Alberta and create many jobs, including spinoff jobs created as other companies that are lured to the area.
Wilson noted Enhance Energy already has a history of operating in central Alberta. Among other things, the company has a facility in Clive, about 50 kilometres northeast of Red Deer.
“The potential is significant, the capital investment is significant,” he said.
“This will allow for the attraction of industry along the Highway 2 corridor, investment; and again, the capture of CO2, so meeting their targets as far as net zero contribution goes and net zero emissions goes.”
Blatz and Ryan noted the previous Olds town council received a briefing on the project before last October’s civic election.
“They were very open with all of the information that they provided to us and I would highly recommend that we do send this letter to the board,” Blatz said.
“The big boon for our area would be in the possibility of having additional industry moving in to central Alberta; more jobs and obviously investment,” Ryan added.
Ryan said Red Deer-Mountain View MP Earl Dreeshen and a couple of members of the legislature were in on the call and indicated their support for the project.
"I sure like it when I see, on behalf of the citizens of Olds, that we can attract new investments into Alberta potentially, so that’s awesome," Mayor Judy Dahl said.
Wilson thanked the town’s legislative clerk, Marcie McKinnon, for enabling the matter to be discussed by council on relatively short notice.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
CCS is a technology used to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from large‐scale industrial facilities, which account for 70 per cent of Alberta’s emissions (e.g., oilsands, electricity, generation, cement, and petrochemical manufacturing facilities. CCS is a safe and permanent means of CO2 emission reduction, according to the provincial government.
A CCS project will:
1.) capture emissions that would normally be vented into the atmosphere,
2.) transport the emissions to a well site, and
3.) inject the CO2 into deep underground rock formation for permanent storage.
Alberta has the ideal geology for CCS, according to the province. The same rock formations that have securely stored oil and gas for millions of years can store CO2 permanently.
