CCS - What is it?

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a greenhouse gas that can be separated from the exhaust of industrial facilities such as coal-fired electricity plants, compressed and injected back underground for enhanced oil recovery or to be permanently stored in depleted wells where natural gas was held for millions of years. This is carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The Canada-Alberta Task Force on CCS

The Canada-Alberta Task Force on CCS determined that by 2050, CCS has the potential to eliminate 600 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year, or roughly 40 per cent of Canada’s projected emissions. That’s equivalent to removing more than all of Canada’s current industrial emissions - without losing critical economic services and value.

In Alberta, CCS has the potential to eliminate 45 megatonnes of CO₂ annually – almost a third of the province’s 2050 target - if applied to all Alberta-based coal-fired electricity plants.

Project Pioneer partners have already begun the initial engineering and design work for this project and in October 2009, the Governments of Alberta and Canada committed their support to Project Pioneer.

With continued leadership and commitment, the facility could be operational in 2015.