December 5, 2014 | The Globe and Mail | John Loring
There has been endless talk about carbon capture, and we’ve covered the subject in Wyoming, Texas and China. But The Globe and Mail reports that, in October, a milestone was reached in those efforts when the first real carbon capture plant opened for business. It was very expensive: $1.2 billion Canadian ($1 billion U.S ), including $240 million Canadian in federal grants. That is why these sorts of projects rarely get off the ground.
The plant is able to capture 90% of the carbon emissions. Some is piped into permanent underground storage wells, while the rest has been purchased by an oil company to be used to enhance oil recovery in nearby fields. Eventually the company, SaskPower, plans to retrofit other energy plants with carbon capture systems to feed into the oil production market.