Capital Power abandons carbon capture project in Alberta

Capital Power announces that it is ending its carbon capture project at its coal-fired power plant Genesee, located near Edmonton. The energy company based in the Alberta capital cites economic reasons to justify abandoning this project worth $2.4 billion.

At present, the project is not economically feasible. Therefore Capital Power announced in a press release that it is no longer moving forward with its carbon capture project at its thermal production facility Genesis.

The project, located near the village of Warburgin Leduc County, aimed to capture and sequester up to three million tons of carbon dioxide (CO_²) per year. It was to be completed in 2026 and be operational from 2027.

When it opened, it was expected to bring in some $5.4 million in local property taxes each year and create about fifty full-time jobs.

Capital Power However, it is convinced that carbon capture and storage constitutes “a technically viable technology and a potential path towards decarbonization”.

However, for cost reasons, she says she prefers devote [son] time, [son] attention and [ses] resources to other business opportunities to serve [ses] customers with balanced energy solutions.

The company, which has set itself the objective of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2045, also indicates that it could once again explore the route of carbon capture and storage at the same time. future, if economic conditions improve.

A new failure which must serve as a lesson

The decision to Capital Power to abandon its carbon capture project at its Genesee power plant has sparked outrage from environmental groups.

According to Environmental Defensea Canadian environmental organization, this is another failure of the terrible toll of carbon capture in the energy sector in Canada.

Boundary Dam [en Saskatchewan], only capture a fraction of the promised rate”,”text”:”Most projects never start. The few that do, like the Boundary Dam coal plant [en Saskatchewan]only capture a fraction of the promised rate”}}”>Most projects never get started. The few that do, like the coal-fired power plant in Boundary Dam [en Saskatchewan]only capture a fraction of the promised rateaffirms the organization in a press release.

Genesee is not the only project to fail. Other carbon capture facilities operating in Canada have struggled to meet the targets they set for themselves.

Since 2015, Shell’s Quest project near Edmonton has stored nine million tonnes of CO2, but its capture rate of 77% remains lower than the 90% initially announced.

Environmental Defense believes that this observation should serve as a lesson to different levels of government and encourage them to be more cautious when it comes to using public money to subsidize carbon capture and storage projects.

The decision was made despite massive government subsidies. Capital Power has already received $5 million from the Alberta government and the project could have obtained federal and provincial tax credits. Despite this, Capital Power still decided that the project would not be financially viable.

The organization emphasizes that Canada does not lack alternatives to fossil fuels, because wind and solar power, combined with battery storage, are reliable, affordable and safeshe said, adding: This is where governments should invest.

Alberta’s electricity grid relies heavily on natural gas. Many analysts believe that offsetting emissions from this energy will require a mix of wind and solar power, hydrogen, nuclear power in the form of small modular reactors, and carbon capture and storage. ‘future.

In January, Capital Power declared that it would join forces with Ontario Power Generation to assess the feasibility of developing small modular nuclear reactors to help power Alberta’s electricity grid.

“The Need for Strong Regulation in Alberta”

The Pembina Institute, an energy sector research and think tank, called the announcement Capital Power of disappointingbecause “the exploitation of gas without any plan to reduce emissions constitutes a major risk and is not in line with global trends”.

The Pembina Institute also believes that the decision to Capital Power highlights, once again, the importance of robust regulationparticularly to the extent that substantial emissions reductions are possible […] when industry and government align on priorities.

Alberta must establish a clear climate plan, as well as rules with intermediate targets for emitting sectors, prioritizing the lowest emitting and most cost-effective energy sources available today and sending a clear signal to industry on the need to reduce emissions.

The Pembina Institute also says it is waiting impatiently to see how Capital Power now intends to keep its commitment to achieve zero emissions by 2045, now that it is not developing reduction measures for its gas-fired power plants.

With information from The Canadian Press and CBC