August 18, 2009

Enbridge Transporting Captured Genesee CO2

Enbridge's initiatives in carbon transportation and sequestration took a significant step forward at the end of June. The Genesee power generation facility project had been selected to enter into negotiations with the government of Alberta for funding through the province's $2 billion program for large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects.

The project was proposed jointly with Epcor and the Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP). It also received funding from the federal government's ecoENERGY Technology Initiative in March.

"CCS has the potential to transform the environmental footprint of our energy economy, and may be one of the best ways for Canada to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions," said Patrick D. Daniel, president and CEO, Enbridge. "Through our participation in the Genesee project, we'll have the opportunity to thoroughly test the technology for safety and effectiveness, and to share it with others in our industry.

"Despite a continuing tough global economic climate, Enbridge remains very well positioned to deliver superior value to our shareholders through our focus on sustained visible growth, a low-risk business model, and steady distributions of income," he concluded.

On June 30, the government of Alberta announced that the EPCOR/Enbridge proposal for an IGCC carbon-capture power-generation facility at Genesee is one of three projects selected for the negotiation of letters of intent under the province's $2 billion program for large-scale CCS projects.

The Genesee IGCC CCS project would be North America's first project combining an IGCC commercial-scale, near-zero-emission thermal power plant with carbon capture, compression, and storage.

It has the potential to capture more than 3,300 mt/d or 1.2 million mt/y of CO2 emissions. Enbridge would be responsible for transporting captured CO2 from the Genesee site for use in enhanced oil recovery or for permanent storage in deep saline aquifers, and ASAP would be responsible for saline aquifer sequestration.

-Zeus Syngas Refining