Alberta’s plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions took a major hit Thursday after energy companies cancelled a $1.4-billion carbon capture and storage project because it doesn’t make financial sense.
TransAlta, Capital Power and Enbridge have pulled out of Project Pioneer, one of four CCS projects that together form the cornerstone of the province’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
Project Pioneer was a central part of TransAlta’s plan to reduce emissions at its new Keephills 3 coal-fired power plant west of Edmonton. The project was expected to capture one megaton of carbon dioxide every year for the next 10 years; all of that carbon will now go into the environment.
“Our decision was essentially based on the fact that we could not see a way to make the economics of our CCS project work as we originally intended,” said Don Wharton, vice-president of policy and sustainability at TransAlta.
