Enbridge and Lehigh Cement agree to advance a CO2 storage solution in Alberta

January 26, 20226:50 AM CNW

CALGARY, AB – Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge) (TSX: ENB) (NYSE: ENB) and Lehigh Cement, a division of Lehigh Hanson Materials Limited (Lehigh), are pleased to announce a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on a carbon solution for Lehigh’s cement manufacturing facility in Edmonton, Alberta.

Lehigh is developing North America’s first full-scale carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) solution for the cement industry at its Edmonton plant, with the goal of capturing approximately 780,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually. Captured emissions would be transported via pipeline and permanently sequestered by Enbridge. Subject to the award of carbon sequestration rights and regulatory approvals, the project could be in service as early as 2025.

With the support of Lehigh and Capital Power Corporation (Capital Power) with their local facilities, Enbridge will be applying to develop an open-access carbon hub in the Wabamun area, west of Edmonton, Alberta, through the Government of Alberta’s Request for Full Project Proposals process.

Combined, the emissions from Capital Power and Lehigh’s planned carbon capture projects represent an opportunity to avoid nearly 4 million tonnes of atmospheric CO2 emissions. Once built, the Open Access Wabamun Carbon Hub will be among the largest integrated CCUS projects in the world.

“At Lehigh Hanson, we believe that carbon capture and storage technology will play a key role in transforming the cement industry and building a more sustainable future,” said Joerg Nixdorf, President of Lehigh Hanson’s Canada Region. “We are excited about taking the next steps in our ambitious journey to achieving carbon neutrality across the cement and concrete value chain.

“Having a carbon hub solution in place by 2025 is essential for the successful implementation of the CCUS project at our Edmonton cement plant,” Nixdorf added.

“Lehigh Cement’s pioneering CCUS project is an exciting addition to our proposed Open Access Wabamun Carbon Hub, which is poised to support the decarbonization of multiple industries, including power generation, oil and gas, and now cement,” said Colin Gruending, Enbridge Executive Vice President and President, Liquids Pipelines. “This collaboration demonstrates our focus on local, cost-effective, customer-focused carbon transportation and storage solutions that drive scale and competitiveness while minimizing infrastructure footprint to protect land, water and the environment.”

“We applaud Lehigh and Enbridge in advancing plans for definitive climate action in Canada with this full chain CCUS initiative and we are proud to be a part of the carbon capture development at Lehigh’s Edmonton cement plant,” said Mark Demchuk, National Director, Strategy & Stakeholder Relations at the International CCS Knowledge Centre. “Collaborative CCUS solutions like this are a vital enabler of large-scale emissions reductions, across multiple industries, including cement production.”

“The Cement Association of Canada (CAC) welcomes the announcement of an MOU between Lehigh Hanson and Enbridge for Lehigh’s Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage project in Edmonton, Alberta. This is another positive step forward in the development of Lehigh Hanson’s CCUS project, supporting an end-to-end solution for carbon capture and permanent storage,” said Michael McSweeney, CAC President/CEO. “These types of partnerships on critical technologies like CCUS are how we will win the fight against climate change and demonstrate to Canadians and the world how our hard to abate industry will reach its net-zero ambition. We are so pleased to see this CCUS project moving forward.”

Visualizing Carbon Storage in Earth’s Ecosystems

on January 25, 2022
By Sponsored Content
Article/Editing:

Dorothy Neufeld
Graphics/Design:

Miranda Smith
The following content is sponsored by the Carbon Streaming Corporation.

RIGHT CLICK TO OPEN LARGER IN NEW TAB

Visualizing Carbon Storage in Earth’s Ecosystems

Each year, the world’s forests absorb roughly 15.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).

To put it in perspective, that’s around three times the annual CO2 emissions of the U.S. or about 40% of global CO2 emissions. For this reason, forests serve as a vital tool in regulating the global temperature and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

In this graphic sponsored by Carbon Streaming Corporation, we look at the Earth’s natural carbon sinks, and break down their carbon storage.
Carbon Storage by Ecosystem

Forests contain several carbon sinks, from living biomass such as roots and leaves to soil. In fact, soil contains nearly twice as much carbon than the atmosphere, plant, and animal life combined.
Soil: 2,500 gigatonnes (Gt)
Atmosphere: 800 Gt
Plant & animal life: 560 Gt

The soil type, vegetation, and climate all affect how carbon is stored. For example, colder and wetter climates promote the most effective carbon storage in soil.
Global Carbon Storage* (Tonnes of carbon per hectare)VegetationSoilWetlands 43 643
Boreal forests 64 344
Temperate grasslands 7 236
Tundra 6 127
Tropical forests 120 123
Tropical savannas 29 117
Temperate forests 57 96
Croplands 2 80
Deserts and semideserts 2 42

*Average stored carbon in tonnes per hectare at a ground depth of one meter
Source: IPCC

Wetlands are substantial reservoirs of carbon. Despite occupying only 5-8% of the Earth’s land surface, they hold between 20 to 30% of all estimated organic soil carbon.
Risks to Natural Carbon Sinks

Around 8.1 billion tonnes of CO2 leaks back into the atmosphere each year.

Over the last 20 years, the world has lost about 10% of its tree cover, or 411 million hectares (Mha). The main causes behind this are forestry (119 Mha), commodity-driven deforestation (103 Mha), and wildfires (89 Mha). What’s more, research suggests that Amazon rainforests emit more carbon than they absorb due to record levels of fires, many of which are deliberately set to clear for commodity production.

With the increasing frequency of wildfires and deforestation, the world’s forests are at risk of releasing carbon. Protecting and preserving these biomes is critical to the Earth’s carbon balance and mitigating climate change.
Carbon Credits Provide a Solution

Given the risk of losing critical carbon sinks, carbon credits play an important role in preserving these ecosystems.

Carbon credits can help finance projects that reduce or remove GHG emissions from the atmosphere. From improved forest management to reforestation, there are a number of different types of carbon projects across wetlands, grasslands, and various forests:
Reforestation and Afforestation
Avoided Deforestation
Natural forest management
Wetland restoration

For instance, a carbon credit project may preserve endangered tropical lowland peat swamp forests spanning thousands of hectares, such as the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Project in Indonesia, one of the projects that Carbon Streaming has a carbon credit stream.

Through this project, forests are prevented from being converted into palm oil plantations to reduce and avoid 130 million tonnes of GHG emissions during the 30 years of the project.

Another example would be the Cerrado Biome Project in Brazil, another carbon offset project where Carbon Streaming has a stream agreement. This project is protecting and preserving native forests and grasslands from being converted to commercial agriculture.

Importantly, these projects would not be economically viable without the sale of carbon credits. 

Protecting Stored Carbon

To prevent further loss of stored carbon, government policies, NGO-led initiatives, and the financing of carbon offset projects are gaining momentum. Taken together, they offer the critical intervention needed to preserve the earth’s carbon vaults.

ALBERTA

Enbridge says carbon storage project still alive in spite of Capital Power decision


The Canadian Press
Fri, May 10, 2024 




CALGARY — Enbridge Inc.'s proposal to build a major carbon storage hub in Alberta remains on the table, the company said Friday, in spite of Capital Power's recent decision to shelve its own $2.4-billion project associated with the plan.

Enbridge executive vice-president Colin Gruending said the move by Capital Power to cancel a high-profile CCUS project proposed for its Genesee natural gas-fired power near Edmonton is "disappointing."

But he added another proposed carbon capture project in the area, at Heidelberg Materials' cement plant, remains in the works and keeps Enbridge's own proposed storage hub alive.

"That (Heidelberg) project has garnered some more financial support, and we'll be working with them to consider FID (final investment decision) later this year," Gruending said told a conference call with analysts to discuss the Enbridge's latest financial results.


"So the Wabamun Open Access Hub will generally continue."

CCUS — or carbon capture, utilization and storage — is a technology that traps harmful emissions from industrial processes and stores them deep underground to prevent them from entering the atmosphere.

Pipeline company Enbridge and electricity generator Capital Power agreed in 2021 to jointly evaluate CCUS solutions in Alberta. Capital Power had proposed to build a carbon capture facility at its Genesee plant, while Enbridge would build the storage hub.

But, Capital Power said last week that while it believes its Genesee carbon capture project is technically viable, it concluded the economics don't work.

Enbridge has already received permission from the government of Alberta to develop the underground hub, dubbed the Wabamun Open Access Hub.

The company's plan is for the hub to be scalable to meet the carbon storage needs of multiple industrial emitters in the area, making it potentially one of the largest underground CCUS hubs in the world.

The Heidelberg Materials CCUS project, which would connect to the Wabamun hub, is in the most advanced planning stages of any potential carbon capture project in the area.

It aims to capture one million tonnes of carbon emissions annually, making the Edmonton-area plant the world's first net-zero cement facility.

But Capital Power's project, which was to capture three million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, would have been a key part of Enbridge's plan.

Enbridge noted that Capital Power’s decision had no material impact to Enbridge's financial position or growth projections, nor was it characterized as a secured project.

Gruending said Enbridge remains strongly interested in growing a carbon capture, sequestration and transportation business.

But Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel said only the most competitive CCUS projects will go ahead, and tax incentives in the U.S. remain more attractive than what is on offer for carbon capture proponents in Canada.

"So we're real careful with how we deal with this," Ebel said.

"I think, that like a lot of other things, there'll probably be fewer of these (final projects) than obviously the number of proposals that are out there. We're going to do this really disciplined, and it sounds like they (Capital Power) are as well."

Capital Power's decision comes in spite of the fact the Alberta government is promising to cover up to 12 per cent of the costs of CCUS projects and the federal government as much as half through a new tax credit, which has yet to be legislated.

But many companies remain concerned that the existing federal carbon pricing system could be cancelled by future governments, a concern which would impact the financial feasibility of emissions-reducing investments like CCUS.

Ottawa is trying to address that uncertainty by offering so-called "carbon contracts for difference," which reduce the risk for businesses investing in clean technologies by guaranteeing the price of carbon for a fixed period of time.

But most companies proposing CCUS projects in Canada have not yet successfully negotiated a satisfactory contract for difference with the Canada Growth Fund.

Enbridge reported Friday its first-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as it recorded a non-cash, net unrealized derivative fair value loss as well as costs related to job cuts announced in February.

On an adjusted basis, the company reported earnings of $2.0 billion or $0.92 per common share, an eight per cent increase from the previous year's quarter.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 81 cents per share for the quarter, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

In a note to clients, TD Cowen analyst Linda Ezergailis said Enbridge's strong results demonstrate the company is solidly positioned to deliver energy in a growing market.

"In our view, ENB's scale, diversification and stability, resilient business model, long-life assets, and ability to pivot to meet continued industry changes, including a transition to a lower-carbon future, should warrant a premium valuation," she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2024.

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CCS 

Chief ‘really happy’ to be at the table with Alberta on carbon capture projects


Mon, May 9, 2022

Getting the nod to further develop two separate carbon capture project proposals in Alberta is not too much for the First Nation Capital Investment Partnership (FNCIP), which comprises the First Nations of Enoch Cree, Paul, Alexander and Alexis Nakota Sioux.

“We can take on more, if anything,” said Enoch Cree Nation Chief Billy Morin. “They’re two completely different, separate applications and we’re lucky we got them both in round one, which we were kind of happily surprised.”

At the end of March, the Alberta government announced six potential projects had been selected in the first round of submissions to look at safely storing carbon from industrial emissions in hubs deep underground.

FNCIP is involved in the Open Access Wabamun Carbon Hub west of Edmonton and the Wolf Midstream project east of Edmonton.

The Wabamun Carbon Hub sees FNCIP joining with the Lac St. Anne Métis to partner with Enbridge Inc.

“We do have to walk with some humility and say we do need partners like Enbridge. We do need emitters like Capital Power, which has already signed up with Enbridge and Lehigh (Hanson Materials Limited). We need those industry partners for their expertise, but also to come to the table in a fair and equitable way, and that’s what Enbridge has done,” said Morin.

FNCIP and Lac St. Anne Métis have 50 per cent ownership in the Wabamun project.

In the Wolf Midstream project, which also involves Heart Lake First Nation and Calgary-based energy company Whitecap Resources Inc., FNCIP has 30 per cent ownership.

The Wolf Midstream sequestration hub will serve large facilities in the industrial heartland of Fort Saskatchewan. Initial hub volumes are expected to be between two to three million tonnes per annum with significant expansion capability to support current and future requirements of area businesses. If given the go-ahead, it is expected to be operational by the end of 2024.

Engaging First Nations as these projects get underway is an indication that the province has learned from its mistakes with oil and gas development, said Morin.

“In one way, shape or form I would say they got ahead of the game this time and learned from some of their historic mistakes in not engaging with us developing oil and gas over the last 80 years,” he said.

“This one is a brand-new industry and from the start we’re at the table, having ownership … (and) upholding treaty rights below the depth of the plow…So the government was really proactive … and I'm really happy they did that.”

Companies will be invited to work with government to further evaluate the suitability of each location. If the evaluation demonstrates that the proposed projects can provide permanent storage, companies can work with the government on an agreement that provides them with the right to inject captured carbon dioxide. This agreement will also ensure they will provide open access to all emitters and affordable use of the hub, reads a statement from Alberta Energy.

“It's round two, so we're talking about more regulatory development with the provincial government,” said Morin. “Now it's getting down into the details of ‘let's get a shovel in the ground’ and that is going to take a lot more engineering, technical capacity, community engagements, internally and externally from First Nations. (It’s) another year planning roughly.”

Morin said he sees FNCIP engaging with the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation once they have “structured a deal” with the province.

“It's not the only way we can raise capital, but certainly in Alberta that was exactly what this was designed for. (It) is to engage First Nations in new initiatives with industry in the province itself. Absolutely, we will be at the table with them early,” he said.

The AIOC, created in 2019, was initially set up to provide loan guarantees to natural resource projects. This past February, the mandate expanded to include investments in major agriculture, telecommunications and transportation projects. The AIOC can provide up to $1 billion in loan guarantees. To date, it has backstopped more than $160 million in Indigenous investments in natural resource projects, according to Alberta Indigenous Relations.

Alberta has committed $1.24 billion through 2025 to two commercial-scale carbon capture and storage projects. Both projects will help reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from the oil sands and fertilizer sectors and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2.76 million tonnes each year. This is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 600,000 vehicles.

A second request for full project proposals to provide carbon storage services to regions across the rest of the province just closed.

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CCS  

THE REALITY IS THAT CCS IS NOT GREEN NOR CLEAN IT IS GOING TO BE USED TO FRACK OLD DRY WELLS SUCH AS IN THE BAKAN SHIELD IN SASKATCHEWAN
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-myth-of-carbon-capture-and-storage.html

Drop In The Bucket

Oh big threat. The Alberta Government has finally gotten off its ass a year later and charged CN rail with environmental damage for the toxic spill at lake Wabamun. The fine a piddly $500,000, a drop in the bucket for CN who had record profits and donated a cool $1 million US to a local hospital to assuage their guilt. Heck it's spare change to Hunter Harrison the American CEO of CN.

The cost of the clean up? $75 million. That fine really is going to help the taxpayers of Alberta who have had to clean up the mess. Guess this is another fine example of Alberta Government regulations, when they finally are enforced, defintely prove this Government is not in the business of regulating business....just screwing Albertans.Wabamun residents unhappy with CN charge

And oh yeah CN had another toxic spill this weekend, in Quebec.

See: CN



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CN Confusion

The Edmonton Sun editorial board like most Albertans are confused, about why we can swim in Lake Wabamun, but can't shower or wash dishes with water from the lake. Apparently because we should not ingest the tainted water.

The Sun is confused as to why CN has not been sued by the Alberta Government for having polluted the lake last year.

And Albertans are confused about why the Government has done nothing leaving it up to local residents to blockade and go through civil court to get compensation from CN.

Yep we are all confused when the peoples government abdicates its responsibilities because it of course would never think of regulating business.

We are confused when the Federal government fails to enforce the Transportation of Dangerous Goods, TDG, Act.

We are confused when the environment department says go swim but Capital Health says don't.

We are confused when both the Wabamun property owners and their neighbours; the Aborginal community have to sue CN without support from the the State whose laws CN violated.

Yep confusion reigns in Alberta where the State is not in the business of regulating business. Duh Oh.

Also See: CN


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I Am Shocked

Province taken aback by Wabamun lawsuit
Provincial officials say they're surprised the government has been named in a multi-million dollar lawsuit over a train derailment last summer in Wabamun. The Paul First Nation is suing the Alberta government, CN Rail and the federal government for the disaster, where as much as 1.3 million litres of bunker oil was spilled beside and into the lake.

Because you dolts the Environment is a Provincial jurisdiction.Now how could you forget that little fact? Hmm? Since you make sure Ottawa knows what is Alberta's jurisdictions ad nauseum.

And lets see you didn't have an emergency disaster plan in place. And when the accident occured you threw up your hands and said it wasn't your problem, until the news coverage made you look stupid.

Robert Moyles, a spokesperson for Alberta Environment, says he believes the government took the appropriate action. "Minister Guy Boutilier established the environmental protection commission immediately after the incident to determine how we could develop a better response system," he said. "They've made their recommendations and the government has accepted those."

Yeah after the fact, only when push came to shove and the Minister was embarassed did he call for a study, the Klein Reich's way of dealing with most problems is to study it to death. Like Healthcare. In this case the report said that the Minister and his department weren't prepared with an emergency plan for any kind of predictable disaster like this. Well Duh Oh.

Because despite the clear responsibility of CN for this disaster the Klein governemt didn't sue them, take them to court ion behlaf of the citizens affected or fine them.

The Alberta government conducted an investigation into the derailment, but no charges were ever laid against CN.

Because thats business as ususal in Alberta, regulations and enforcement are just so much damn red tape. And besides they get in the way of business doing business, which is why the Government is out of business.


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Health and Safety

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Alberta's Katrina

Report exposes flaws in Alta. disaster response

Tories asleep at the railway switch.

Nope no plan. We are a petroleum producing province, have been since 1945 that means we deal with many kinds of toxic's and hazardous wastes. We have a toxic/hazardous waste plant operating in Northern Alberta since 1984. And we don't have an emergency plan to deal with toxic spills or accidents with hazardous goods. Even though the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act has been law in Canada since the 1980's.

Nope guess thats another business the government wasn't in the business of. Hoping the private sector would take up the slack, self regulation and all that. Didn't happen. Opps sorry government is supposed to provide that service. Its called public safety.

Except in Alberta, where the Tired Old Tories were once again caught with their pants down, playing hide the sausage. When the accident happened the Minister of the Environment actually said his departments job was just to monitor the clean up. 48 hours later he recanted and remembered that he was IN CHARGE.

Its hard to run a province when you do it by letting it all slide while clipping surplus coupons.

EDMONTON -- A report into an Alberta train derailment that poisoned a popular lake has exposed flaws in the province's emergency response system, says a environment commission set up after the accident.An interim report into the Wabamun Lake spill has found officials need better training, broader definitions of harmful substances and a list of Alberta's high-risk areas - especially as a booming economy and population increase the risk of more accidents. Newell said response to the spill revealed a lack of planning and co-ordination between provincial and federal government departments.The departments of environment, transportation and fisheries in both Edmonton and Ottawa need to stage joint simulations to work out and practise who's responsible for what, he said.Response to the Wabamun spill was hampered by confusion over just what the train was carrying. The hazardous pole-treating preservative was originally referred to as lubricating oil."By the official terms of what a dangerous good was, they didn't have one," Newell said. "We will definitely be pushing the need to do a lot more work around risk assessments and risk mitigation," said Newell, who acknowledged his surprise that such a list doesn't already exist
Poor public notification and badly co-ordinated plans greatly hampered clean-up efforts at Wabamun and added millions of dollars to the cost, Goss said "No one had a plan for a fresh-water oil spill."

Premier Ralph Klein later apologized to Albertans for his government's slow response to the spill, which contaminated the lake and area wells.

Yep Ralph Klein and George Bush birds of a feather, soaked in toxic waste. Screw up and apologise after the fact. This is the most damning evidence of the inherent failure of right wing neo conservative governments to do their job, its hard to govern when you claim to oppose government.

PEAT FIRE

UPDATE: Evacuation order in Parkland County as wildfire rages west of Edmonton

the area where the fire is burning is full of peat moss, which  creates a lot of smoke and can be difficult to extinguish.

© Courtesy: Chantel Cook A wildfire that flared up Thursday near the hamlet of Tomahawk, south of Wabamun Lake in Parkland County, grew overnight in the rural area west of Edmonton. May 7, 2021.

Karen Bartko 9 hrs ago

GLOBAL NEWS 


UPDATE: Parkland County issued a mandatory wildfire evacuation order early Friday morning for the following areas of the municipality west of Edmonton:

Highway 22 to the west

Township Road 524 to the north (Updated at 1:45 a.m. from Township Road 520)

Range Road 63 to the east

Township Road 510 to the south

A look at COVID-19 vaccinations in Canada on Friday, May 7, 2021

Carbon emissions from energy dropped 10% in the EU last year

© Alberta Emergency Alert An emergency alert states there is a rapidly moving wildfire near the hamlet of Tomahawk in the area of Range Road 62 and Range Road 70, and Township Roads 510 and 514.

Residents in those areas must evacuate immediately. Bring identification, medication, blankets, sleeping bags, personal items, important documents, household pets and pet care items if possible.

All evacuees are required to register at the reception center, either in person or by phone at the Tomahawk and District Sports Arena (51122 AB-759, Tomahawk, AB T0E 2H0.) Phone: 780-203-3258

.

Previous story below:

Emergency officials are battling a wildfire near the rural community of Tomahawk in Parkland County.

An Alberta Emergency Alert said the wildfire was west of Tomahawk in the area of Range Road 62 and Range Road 70, and Township Roads 510 and 514. It is moving rapidly in a northwest direction, the alert at 9 p.m. said.

The fire flared up late Thursday afternoon near the hamlet south of Wabamun Lake. Photos and videos from area residents showed trees burning and a huge plume of black smoke in the air.

The smoke could be seen from as far away as Drayton Valley and Seba Beach.

Video: Tomahawk wildfire rages into the night west of Edmonton in Parkland County

It was windy across Alberta on Thursday, with the Edmonton region seeing sustained winds of around 30 km/h with guts of 52 km/h, according to Environment Canada.

The winds out of the southeast are expected to stay in the 25 to 50 km/h range overnight, possibly gusting to 60 in that area.

Fire growth is expected due to windy conditions, the alert said, adding crews will be working overnight to try and get it under control.

"Please take all necessary precautions, including leaving the area. Residents who live west of Range Road 62 to the western border of Parkland County should be prepared for possible immediate evacuation."

A Global News crew at the scene was able to see that dozens of properties had been evacuated from Highway 624 and Range Road 63 all the way past Highway 22 up to Moon Lake.

County fire crews were too busy responding to the fire to speak with Global News on Thursday, and a command post could be seen set up on Range Road 63, north of Highway 624.

A government spokesperson said Alberta Wildfire crews were providing mutual aid support.

Read more: 

Wildfire burning in Lac La Biche County, nearby residents told to prepare for ‘possible evacuation’

Air tankers were working in the area with more on way, the province said. At least two tanker planes were seen dropping fire retardant, and a helicopter was dumping water over the blaze.

Video: Crews battle wildfire flares up west of Edmonton near Tomahawk

RCMP have many roads blocked off in the area and Global News saw residents along some roads, ready to evacuate just in case. The wind was observed blowing away from the community.

One resident told Global News the area where the fire was burning is full of peat moss, which the Government of Canada says creates a lot of smoke and can be difficult to extinguish.

The county west of Edmonton had been under a fire bans and restrictions since mid-April, however they were lifted on Tuesday of this week.

BELOW: Photos from the Tomahawk wildfire

Hundreds of coal mining jobs to end as power company switches to natural gas


CALGARY — Alberta power producer TransAlta Corp. says it will end operations at its Highvale thermal coal mine west of Edmonton by the end of 2021 as it switches to natural gas at all of its operated coal-fired plants in Canada four years earlier than previously planned.© Provided by The Canadian Press

The announcement will result in hundreds of mine job losses as employment drops to 40 to 50 people involved in reclamation work, expected to take about 20 years, from a peak workforce of around 1,500, said CEO Dawn Farrell on a conference call on Wednesday.

TransAlta confirmed last week it had closed a $400-million second tranche of a $750-million investment by an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management, with the proceeds to be used to advance its coal-to-gas conversion program and other corporate purposes.

But on the call, Farrell said Brookfield's purchase of convertible securities wasn't responsible for the board's decision to accelerate its coal-to-gas conversions.

"It's really related to, overall, the economics of producing power in Alberta on coal with the carbon tax," she said on the call.

"We've currently got a $30 (per tonne) carbon tax, it'll be $40 by next year, $50 the year after. Coal plants get less economic and they're less flexible in a merchant market."

The percentage of power in Alberta generated from coal has fallen from more than 80 per cent in the 1980s to less than one-third now, in part due to rising provincial government prices on carbon that began in 2007. The electricity market was deregulated in 1996, which means prices are set through competition.

"It's good news for GHG reduction and the health of Albertans to have coal being phased out earlier," said Binnu Jeyakumar, director of clean energy for the environmental Pembina Institute, adding coal power profitability is becoming less attractive as the costs of renewable power fall.

She cautioned, however, that converted coal plants are unlikely to be as efficient as new natural gas powered plants and added that fugitive gas emissions from production and transportation of gas also present an ongoing GHG risk.

TransAlta said it will stop burning coal in its Keephills Unit 1 and Sundance Unit 4 plants, which will operate at lower capacity with natural gas, while it evaluates full conversion projects.

A conversion project at Sundance Unit 6 is to be complete in a few weeks and the conversions of Keephills Unit 2 and Unit 3 are to be wrapped up in 2021.

The company announced it will proceed with the full $800-million conversion of Sundance Unit 5 to allow it to produce about 730 megawatts when it comes online in Q4 2023.

"Our greenhouse gas emissions will be under 11.5 million tonnes by the end of 2022, down almost 70 per cent from 2005," said Farrell, who said it has cut 32 million tonnes per year across its worldwide operations since 2005 and 21 million in Canada.

"TransAlta has more than met it's fair share of the Paris agreement. To date, we alone have delivered 10 per cent of Canada's goal of a 220-million-tonne reduction for Canadians by 2030."

She said TransAlta should be a "sought after investment" for clean energy investors.

The company will still produce power from coal at its Centralia facility in Washington State, which has a transition agreement allowing it to burn coal until its end of life in 2025, Farrell said on the call.

TransAlta also owns a 50 per cent stake in the Sheerness power plant in western Alberta, which is operated by American firm Heartland Generation Ltd., and continues to burn coal although it has some dual-fuel capabilities.

TransAlta reported a loss attributable to common shareholders of $136 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $51 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue was $514 million, down from $593 million in the same quarter last year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TA, TSX:BAM)

Dan Healing, The Canadian Press

TransAlta to end coal mining operations at Highvale in 2021, stop using coal in Canada
Lisa Johnson 

TransAlta Corp. says it will stop mining coal at its Highvale mine by the end of 2021 and will no longer use coal to generate power in Canada effective Jan. 1, 2022.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal 

A giant drag line works in the Highvale Coal Mine to feed the nearby Sundance Power Plant near Wabamun on Friday, Mar. 21, 2014.

In a Wednesday report of its third-quarter financial results, TransAlta said it was closing the mine, which is located south of Lake Wabamun, about 70 kilometres west of Edmonton, four years ahead of schedule in an effort to accelerate its environmental, social, and corporate governance goals.

The Highvale mine, which has been in operation since 1970, is one of three TransAlta-owned surface coal mines and Canada’s largest surface strip coal mine, covering more than 12,600 hectares, according to the Calgary-based company’s website.

TransAlta CEO Dawn Farrell said in a conference call that the company is on track to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by almost 70 per cent from 2005 levels by the end of 2022.

“TransAlta has more than met its fair share of the Paris Agreement,” said Farrell.

Under the agreement, Canada committed to reducing its emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

At TransAlta’s coal power generating stations, Keephills Unit 1 and Sundance Unit 4 will stop firing with coal and will only operate on gas, reducing their maximum capability to 70 MW and 113 MW, respectively.

“It’s really related to overall the economics of producing power in Alberta on coal with the carbon tax. If you look at Alberta, we’ve currently got a $30 (per tonne) carbon tax, it’s be $40 by next year, $50 the year after. Coal plants get less economic and they’re less flexible in a merchant market,” said Farrell.

TransAlta reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of $136 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, compared with a profit of $51 million in the same quarter last year. The difference means a loss of 50 cents per diluted share this quarter, compared with a gain of 18 cents in the same quarter of 2019.

The company said the decrease was largely due to lower revenues, a write-down of its coal inventory, higher depreciation, and an increase in asset impairments and power purchase agreement termination payments, which were partially offset by foreign exchange gains and income tax recoveries.

Its revenue for the quarter was down to $514 million from $593 million in the same quarter last year.

TransAlta operates more than 70 power plants in Canada, the United States and Australia.

Enbridge teams up with Alberta First Nations on carbon capture project

Capital Power’s Genesee Generating Station, located west of Edmonton. (Supplied)

Kerry McAthey
CTV News Edmonton
Feb. 4, 2022 

Enbridge has partnered with four Treaty Six Nations and the Lac Ste. Anne Métis Community to expand a proposed carbon capture and transportation project west of Edmonton.

In a Thursday announcement, Enbridge said the Open Access Wabamun Carbon Hub is being developed to both transport and store carbon, in support of recently announced carbon capture projects by Capital Power, Lehigh Cement, and others.

The Alexander First Nation, Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, Enoch Cree Nation, and Paul First Nation recently formed the First Nation Capital Investment Partnership (FNCIP) to pursue ownership in major infrastructure projects. The partnership with Enbridge on the Hub is the FNCIP’s first such project.

“This path creates an opportunity to generate wealth, but more importantly it allows sustainable economic sovereignty for our communities,” said Chief George Arcand Jr. of Alexander First Nation in a release. “We’re looking forward to working with industry leaders who share our values of environmental stewardship and to collaborate with Enbridge on world-scale carbon transportation and storage infrastructure investments.”

The hub would transport carbon emissions like those from the Lehigh Cement plant in Edmonton by pipeline, to be stored by Enbridge. According to Enbridge, that project alone could capture up to 780,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Combined, the emissions from Capital Power and Lehigh’s projects could avoid nearly four million tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions.

Enbridge has applied to develop the open access hub through the province’s Request for Full Project Proposals process.

Enbridge and its partners haven't publicly said what the project will cost, except that it expects to invest "hundreds of millions of dollars."

The company said pending regulatory approvals, it could be up and running by 2025.

Alberta's investment in carbon capture technology not worth bang for buck, environmental group argues

Alex Antoneshyn
CTVNewsEdmonton.ca Digital Producer
Updated Jan. 21, 2022 


A new report accuses the oil-and-gas industry of greenwashing the impact of carbon capture and storage – also known as CCS – technology, pointing to an oil-processing complex in Alberta that emits more carbon than it buries in the ground.

The report by Global Witness argues CCS is a poor substitute for phasing out fossil fuels and an expensive undertaking that the governments of Alberta and Canada partly funded.

"We think this really isn't sustainable, it's not climate friendly, and it shows that governments across the world, not just in Canada, mustn't support fossil hydrogen," report author Dominic Eagleton told CTV News Edmonton. "They should boost more genuinely sustainable alternatives to fossil hydrogen, such as renewables."


Global Witness, a non-government organization based in the U.K., says its goal is to create a "more sustainable, just and equal planet."

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Eagleton, a senior campaigner with the group, compared the amount of emissions produced at Shell's Scotford Complex in Fort Saskatchewan, northeast of Edmonton, with the amount of carbon dioxide its CCS system – called Quest – removes. He says the site was chosen because of the data publicly available on it.

Global Witness found that between 2014 and 2019, Quest stored five million tonnes of carbon dioxide, or CO2. During the same period, it says the Scotford Complex produced in total 7.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, including methane. The data was pulled from reports submitted by Shell to the Alberta government, as well as data crunched by the Pembina Institute.

Eagleton calls the 2.5-million tonne difference a "wake-up call for the world."

Shell believes Quest hints at what is possible in the future.

'A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT'

Shell operates Quest on behalf of its partners mining oil sands in northern Alberta and refutes Global Witness' assertion it overpromised Quest's potential.

In addition to the CCS system, Scotford Complex consists of an upgrader that turns bitumen from those oil sands into lighter crude products, a refinery that makes fuels and other products from synthetic crude oil, and a chemical plant.

In order to upgrade bitumen, Shell makes hydrogen, producing carbon dioxide in the process.

Quest's job is to capture and liquefy CO2 before trapping it two kilometres below ground.

Quest has stored about six million tonnes of carbon in its six-and-a-half years – faster and cheaper than expected, according to the company. However, the system was never meant to capture more than one third of the Scotford upgrader's emissions, Shell maintains.

When Quest was built, it was touted as the world's first commercial-scale CCS facility at an oil sands operation. And, as one of the first facilities of its kind, Quest isn't able to capture and store as much carbon as is now possible – around 90 per cent, the industry estimates.

"We were there working with the government to really demonstrate Quest as a proof point that CCS does work. Not only in the capture in a brownfield site, but also the storage complex," Shell's national CCS lead Tim Wiwchar told CTV News Edmonton.

"We called it a demonstration project."

Shell is currently planning a CCS project at Scotford that would have a storage capacity of 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, or the above-90 per cent capture levels industry says current technology now allows.

The company is expected to decide to move forward or not with Polaris in late 2023.

'A FRACTION OF THOSE EMISSIONS'

Quest cost $1.35 billion, $845 million of which came from the provincial and federal governments. Some of the provincial dollars, contingent Quest's performance, continue to flow in.

And more dollars will flow to similar projects in the future.

Alberta wants to increase its CCS capacity and has incentivized proposals as part of a plan to capitalize on what is expected to become a $2.5-trillion global hydrogen market by 2030. Hydrogen's potential is premised on its nature to burn cleanly. When it is made alongside a carbon capture system, like at Shell Scotford Complex, it's known as blue hydrogen – and considered dirtier only than green hydrogen made with renewable energy.
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But Eagleton says it is misleading for the fossil fuel industry to present hydrogen production and carbon capture as favourably as it does when CCS can't transform the oil-and-gas sector into a zero-emitting industry.

The senior campaigner at Global Witness found Quest only captured 48 per cent of carbon emissions produced by the Scotford complex – which he called "a fossil hydrogen plant," which Shell disputed – and 39 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

"Trying to apply carbon capture systems to the rest of the world's fossil hydrogen plants could be a disaster for the climate because it might only capture a fraction of those emissions," Eagleton told CTV News Edmonton.

He also believes investing more in carbon-capture infrastructure is a bet in technology that hasn't yet proven itself, when compared to things like wind and solar power.

"It's these options that will take us to a safer climate and not more investment in fossil-fuel infrastructure, which is what fossil hydrogen will entail," Eagleton added.

"Given…that CCS is required in other industries that go beyond fossil fuels -- fertilizer, cement, chemicals, those are all going to be required into the future -- that again, this is a proof point using an oil and gas facility that CCS does work," Wiwchar responded.

"[Quest] has captured over six million tonnes of CO2. That's six million tonnes that would have been emitted from the upgrader…had we not built Quest."

Alberta's energy minister did not respond to CTV News Edmonton's request for comment.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Touria Izri


Quest carbon capture and storage facility in Fort Saskatchewan Alta., on Nov. 6, 2015. (Jason Franson / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Canada's Capital Power and Enbridge to partner on carbon capture project


FILE PHOTO: The Enbridge Tower on Jasper Avenue in Edmonton

Mon, November 29, 2021, 7:14 AM·1 min read

(Reuters) - Capital Power Corp and Enbridge Inc agreed to partner on a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, the companies said on Monday, that would aim to capture up to three million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The proposed project would serve Capital Power's Genesee Generating Station near Warburg, Alberta, which currently provides over 1,200 megawatts of baseload electricity generation to Albertans.

Alberta, home to Canada's oil sands, is aiming to become a hub for carbon storage and hydrogen production as the world moves away from fossil fuel consumption and tries to cut climate-warming carbon emissions.

Enbridge would be the transportation and storage service provider, while Capital Power would be the carbon dioxide provider on the project, which could be in service as early as 2026.

The captured carbon dioxide emissions from the re-powered units would be transported and stored through Enbridge's open access carbon hub that could also serve several other local industrial companies.

Enbridge is applying to develop an open access carbon hub in the Wabamun area through the government of Alberta's request for full project proposals process, which is expected to start as early as December 2021.

Companies including TC Energy, Suncor Energy, Royal Dutch Shell also plan to build new CCS storage facilities.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

Small villages in Alberta quietly disappearing as revenues dry up, costs rise

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In the last decade, 15 communities have dissolved in the province

Liam Harrap · CBC News · Posted: Oct 16, 2021

The Village of Warner, Alta., is located approximately 65 kilometres south of the Lethbridge, Alta. Next year, the community will face a vote by resident on whether to dissolve and become a hamlet. (Joel Dryden/CBC)

After 92 years, the Village of Hythe in northern Alberta is no more. 

The community of approximately 800 people became a hamlet this summer after 95 per cent of local residents voted in support of the change.

"No one thought this was the best thing that ever happened to us, but it was the best of two bad choices," said Brian Peterson, former mayor of Hythe, west of Grande Prairie. 

If Hythe remained incorporated, property taxes would have increased by 150 per cent to pay mounting infrastructure bills, Peterson told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active. 

Due to closing commercial businesses in rural Alberta communities, there is less revenue to pay for public services like plowing snow, water and sewage, said Peterson. 

• After nearly 110 years, Granum is no longer a town

Small rural communities are also hubs for the broader surrounding areas with doctor offices, hockey arenas and churches — all of which pay no tax to the municipality. 

"It becomes unsustainable," said Peterson. 

Even if Hythe remained a village and increased taxes, few could have afforded to pay, he said. 

"There was no other way out." 

6:56Hythe Alberta

The village voted to dissolve itself and become a hamlet. Brian Petersen is the former mayor of the community. 6:56

The death of local governments

This problem is not solely Hythe's. 

Since 2012, 15 communities have dissolved in Alberta, resulting in them no longer having a mayor or council. Instead they become governed by the local county. 

In Hythe's case that's the County of Grande Prairie, which manages 11 other hamlets.

"We've lost self-direction," Peterson said. 

In the last 29 years, Jasper is the only newly created municipality in Alberta.  

Municipality	Year incorporated	Year dissolved
Village of New Norway	1910	2012
Village of Tilley	1940	2013
Village of Minburn	1919	2015
Village of Galahad	1918	2016
Village of Strome	1910	2016
Village of Willingdon	1928	2017
Village of Botha	1911	2017
Town of Grande Cache	1966	2019
Village of Ferintosh	1919	2020
Town of Granum	1904	2020
Village of Cereal	1914	2020
Village of Dewberry	1957	2020
Village of Gadsby	1909	2020
Village of Wabamun	1980	2021
Village of Hythe	1929	2021

Municipal Affairs press secretary Greg Smith said in an email to CBC that the vast majority of municipalities have financial resilience and the province does not expect a surge in applications for communities to dissolve in the coming years. 

But Peterson has a different point of view on the issue. 

"I think there's a lot of other towns and villages that are in financial trouble and don't realize it," he said. 

Rising costs

To preserve village governments, the province needs to develop new tax structures and share revenues more equally, Peterson said. 

• Grande Cache residents vote to dissolve their town

The province has significantly cut grants to help with upgrading infrastructure, said Jon Hood, chief administration officer for the Village of Warner, south of Lethbridge. 

Warner has lost grant funding by approximately 40 per cent in the last five years, he said.

Meanwhile, costs to provide services are increasing.  

Soon the community will have to pay to have an RCMP presence, a service that was previously free. 

"It's becoming extremely difficult to survive," said Hood. 

Residents of Warner will vote next year on whether to follow the same path as Hythe. 

The Town of Grande Cache was incorporated in 1966 for the development of a coal mine and was dissolved in 2019 due to a shrinking population. (CBC)

Tonya Ratushniak, former mayor of the Village of New Norway, which dissolved in 2012, said the rising cost of insurance is also hurting rural communities. 

"We used to have a lot more ham and turkey bingos and suppers," she said. 

Now, to cover liability in case someone falls, trips or chokes, it's not easy to throw events together quickly or cheaply, she said. 

"Because of this there aren't as many events in a small town as there used to be," said Ratushniak. 

While Hythe's decision to dissolve was necessary to save the community, said Peterson, it's not something he's proud of as the village's last mayor. 

"I'm certainly not going to put it on my resume," he said quietly. 

"But sometimes when you're in a leadership role, you have to make tough decisions." 

Liam Harrap  is a journalist at CBC Edmonton. He is also a big fan of fruit and meat pies. Send story tips (and recipes) to him at liam.harrap@cbc.ca.