Competition underway to develop carbon-capture centres in Alberta

Carbon pricing and the pressure to reduce global warming is sparking competition in Alberta to secure space underground to stash away harmful greenhouse gas emissions generated by oil and gas operations, agriculture and other industries.

Enthusiasm for carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities has returned to the province more than a dozen years after former Premier Ed Stelmach committed $2 billion to kickstart the nascent industry. To this day, the number of CCS facilities can be counted on one hand, but that could soon change.

The provincial government has begun accepting proposals to set up CCS hubs throughout Alberta. The hub operator will be chosen to look after injecting carbon emissions underground, in what could be described as underground carbon landfills, and ensure the gases are safely deposited.

At the same time, the federal government is developing an investment tax credit to incentivize more CCS construction to help reduce the country's emissions.

Several companies like Shell Canada and Enbridge are already publicly announcing their interest in developing large-scale CCS projects in Alberta as they compete to secure the rights to pore space between rock, usually a few kilometres underground.

It's a technology that has its critics, both in terms of how realistically it can be scaled and whether it makes financial sense for governments and industry to pursue. Last year, the International Energy Agency noted CCS "has not lived up to its promise" yet as its been slow to develop, but there was growing investment worldwide 

With most plans to reach net-zero by 2050, including Canada's, counting on some sort of CCS, many in Alberta are keen to take part.

As companies announce their own targets for net-zero emissions by 2050, most include plans to reduce emissions with efficiencies and new technology, but also, almost always, a mention of carbon sequestration.

Shell Canada has operated the Quest CCS project near Fort Saskatchewan, northeast of Edmonton, for more than six years and is one of the players vying for pore space from the Alberta government.

"This is going to be a really important part ... of ensuring that within the country, Canada, we can meet the obligations and commitments to net-zero by 2050. And of course, avoid climate change of more than 1.5 Celsius," said Mark Pattenden, a senior vice-president with Shell and leader of its Scotford complex, which includes an oilsands refinery, chemical facilities and the Quest project.

Shell is proposing a new CCS project called Polaris, which could be built adjacent to Quest.

Whoever is chosen as an operator of a CCS hub facility will not only be allowed to sequester its own emissions, but must also accept CO2 captured from other nearby facilities and inject them underground. The operator would charge a fee for transportation and access to the system.

The provincial government wants to create a hub with a single operator, compared to allowing several companies to drill injection wells in the same area, to improve safety and monitoring, while keeping costs low.

"Industry players must uphold those highest standards to give the public confidence because if there is a, God forbid, a rogue player in there, that's not going to inspire confidence in anyone, even if we've been doing it for many years," said Pattenden.