Avik Dey, CEO of Capital Power, has announced that the company will no longer pursue carbon capture at its Genesee power plant near Edmonton. The $2.4-billion project was expected to capture about three million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, making it Canada’s largest carbon capture and storage project. According to Dey, the economics of the project did not add up, which led to the decision to suspend it.
Scott MacDougall of the clean energy think tank, the Pembina Institute, believes that financial uncertainty and technological risks may have contributed to this decision. He also noted that uncertainty over the future value of carbon credits and political direction of carbon pricing could have played a role. MacDougall also mentioned that being the first to use carbon capture technology in a gas plant comes with risk and cost.
Despite this setback for Capital Power’s Genesee power plant, MacDougall does not anticipate other carbon capture proposals being put on hold. He believes that while there are risks associated with being first to use the technology in a gas plant, the technology is well understood and has less risk in other industries, making it more viable for future projects.
