Canada’s top 25 energy infrastructure projects
Alberta Oil presents the grand designs that are shaping Canada's energy future
April 07, 2010
Size, complexity and cost are unavoidable criteria for judging Canada’s standout energy infrastructure projects. Billion dollar price tags, after all, have a way of raising eyebrows. But cost is just one element driving today’s megaprojects. Green ideals and innovative technology also figure prominently in Alberta Oil’s second annual roundup of schemes and dreams shaping Canada’s energy future. Subsea pipelines, colossal hydroelectric projects and Alberta’s ambitious slate of carbon cleanup initiatives make the list, as do border-hopping transmission lines on the east and west coasts. The collection of projects proves that clean power is big bus-iness and that environmental change, far from anathema to the energy industry, is actually a catalyst for sustained growth.
1 | Mining Clean Synthetic FuelThe project is forecast to dispose of up to 1.3 million tonnes per year of greenhouse gas emissions |
Movable coiled tubing unit at demonstration project injection wellsite near Swan Hills
A new model for clean power generation using coal will be established by the Swan Hills Synfuels carbon and power project northwest of Edmonton, predict its supporters. Backers that share the grand vision for breathing new life into the oldest fossil fuel include the Alberta government, which is contributing $285 million to initial stages of the scheme from its $2-billion Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Fund.
The plan calls for completion of a four-part clean energy innovation package by 2015. The pieces include a Swan Hills “gasification” plant that will extract synthetic fuel from a deep coal deposit; a 300-megawatt power plant that will burn the “syngas” at Whitecourt; a pipeline connecting the extraction and generation operations; and a northwest regional distribution pipeline grid to deliver captured carbon dioxide exhaust for life-extending injections into aging oil wells. The project is forecast to dispose of up to 1.3 million tonnes per year of greenhouse gas emissions in permanent underground storage.
Location: Alberta | Sponsors: Swan Hills Synfuels | Cost: $1.5 Billion
2 | Cleaning-Up Upgrader$120 million from Ottawa’s Clean Energy Fund |
Project Quest will cut greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial district northeast of Edmonton by an estimated 1.2 million tonnes per year. Scheduled for installation over the next 15 years, the scheme will dispose of carbon dioxide generated by converting low-grade oil sands bitumen into premium light crude at the Scotford Upgrader near Fort Saskatchewan.
The carbon capture and storage (CCS) scheme will trap exhaust that the plant would otherwise vent into the atmosphere and inject it into nearby natural underground vaults of sponge-like sedimentary rock beneath a cap of denser, leak-proof stone. Government aid – $745 million from Alberta’s CCS development program, plus $120 million from Ottawa’s Clean Energy Fund – will cover about two-thirds of the project’s price tag.
As a pioneer of commercial-scale CCS, Quest is expected to spin off practical know-how that will reduce costs of carbon disposal and encourage adoption of the technology throughout the fossil fuel industry. Emissions by Alberta’s growing energy sector are forecast to be too large for them all to be used profitably in enhanced oil recovery schemes that prolong production from aging wells.
Location: Alberta | Sponsors: The Athabasca Oil Sands Project Consortium Of Shell Canada Energy, Chevron Canada Ltd. And Marathon Oil Sands Lp | Cost: $1.35 Billion
3 | Harnessing Carbon Emissions$495 million from Alberta’s $2-billion fund for CCS projects |
Supported by $558.3 million in provincial and federal government money, Alberta Carbon Trunk Line is setting out to build the world’s largest underground greenhouse gas disposal network. The scheme’s centerpiece is a 240-kilometer pipeline that will enable carbon dioxide exhaust to be captured at Edmonton-area bitumen and fertilizer plants, and then be put into productive use as life-extending injections for aging central Alberta oil wells. After performing the industrial service, the gas will be permanently discarded into spongy rock formations vacated by the black gold.
The public assistance includes $495 million from Alberta’s $2-billion fund for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, plus $63.3 million from Ottawa’s Ecoenergy Technology Initiative and Clean Energy Fund. The governments agreed to back Alberta Carbon Trunk Line as the potential backbone for a province-wide and eventually national industrial waste gas disposal grid.
When fully up and running after phased development over 15 to 20 years, the project will transport 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per day, thereby achieving emissions cuts of 14.6 million tonnes per year in an environmental cleanup equivalent to taking 2.6 million cars off the roads. In initial trial phases, the system will handle 4,600 to 5,100 tonnes per day. Eventually, added oil production is expected to more than repay the taxpayers’ money involved. Carbon dioxide injections will be made available to reservoirs rated as capable of using them to pump out one billion barrels that will generate at least $15 billion in future royalties. Construction is scheduled to start in 2011, with the Alberta government support covering up to 75 per cent of costs.
Location: Alberta | Sponsors: Enhance Energy Inc., North West Upgrading Inc., Agrium Inc., Fairborne Energy Ltd. | Cost: $600 Million
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