Alberta invests $2MM in Waste-to-Energy Carbon Capture Facility

Alberta’s government is providing $2.04 million (CAD 2.8 million) for the first facility in Canada to use carbon capture to turn municipal waste into electricity.

The investment, which was made through Emissions Reduction Alberta, is for a $4.44 million (CAD 6.1 million) front-end engineering and design (FEED) study led by Varme Energy, the government said in a news release. Varme Energy’s FEED study is expected to be completed in December 2024, and construction is set to begin in 2025.

The facility will be built on Gibson Energy land within the Designated Industrial Zone in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, with operations estimated to begin in 2027, according to the release. Solid waste from municipal landfills will be converted into electricity for the grid, with the captured carbon injected into one of Alberta’s carbon sequestration hubs. The facility is expected to capture and store about 185,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Varme Energy is also working with Gibson Energy, the City of Edmonton and the Canada Growth Fund to advance the project, aiming to divert over 200,000 metric tons of municipal solid waste away from landfills per year, according to the release. Canada processes about 26 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually.

“Alberta is a global leader in carbon capture, utilization and storage technology, and the best place for innovative projects like this one to thrive,” Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas, said. “Varme Energy is tapping into our province’s exceptional geology, workforce and expertise to advance a landfill elimination solution that will reduce emissions and continue Alberta’s reputation for delivering clean, secure energy to the world”.

By incorporating carbon capture into the waste-to-energy process, all of the greenhouse gas emissions that are typically released from a waste-to-energy facility will instead be captured and sequestered underground. This helps reduce methane emissions from waste that would normally decompose at the landfill, and ensures all carbon is captured and stored deep in the earth, creating a carbon-negative system where the process stores more carbon dioxide than it emits. 

Through the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line and Quest carbon capture, utilization and storage projects, Alberta has safely sequestered more than 13.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide to date, which is equivalent to the emissions from 2.9 million cars per year, the government said.

“Emissions Reduction Alberta is proud to provide provincial funding to this first-in-Canada project,” Emissions Reduction Alberta CEO Justin Riemer said. “The study is an important first step to realizing a large-scale municipal waste-to-energy facility with carbon capture and storage. This project not only reduces emissions, but also sets a new standard for how we provide clean, reliable energy from waste destined for landfills”.

“We are thrilled at how Varme has been embraced by Alberta. The magnitude of support, encouragement and collaboration we’ve received from the Government of Alberta, and Albertans at large, has been beyond our expectations,” Varme Energy CEO Sean Collins said. “This direct provincial financial support is a significant de-risk that will help bring our project to a positive final investment decision. Emissions Reduction Alberta’s support demonstrates how Alberta’s TIER carbon pricing system is a powerful tool for converting our historical emissions levies into future emissions reductions, modern jobs and economic activity”.

In April, the Alberta government invested $24.84 million (CAD 33.7 million) in technologies aimed at reducing emissions and improving the province’s energy grid. The investment was made through Emissions Reduction Alberta’s (ERA) Reshaping Energy Systems funding competition. The government is helping finance 13 projects that are valued at approximately $64.85 million (CAD 88 million) in public and private investment, according to an earlier news release.

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