First Nations advance Canadian carbon storage plan

A group of Alberta First Nations said October 14 it had filed a response under the Alberta government’s request for expressions of interest (REOI) from industry to develop and manage carbon sequestration hubs in the province.

Kanata Clean Power & Climate Technologies, which advanced a plan earlier this year to develop a zero-emissions gas-fired power plant, said it had partnered with the Frog Lake First Nations and Kehewin Cree Nation and technology provider Vault 44.01 in the proposal. Participating First Nations will collectively be majority owners, with Kanata and Vault taking minority positions.

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“Kanata anticipates that the Kanata CarbonHub will be the only Indigenous-led and owned response to the government of Alberta’s REOI for carbon sequestration and represents an important step for both Alberta’s emissions reduction and economic reconciliation,” it said.

Other First Nations within Treaty 6 may join the project as its development progresses, Kanata said.

“Most experts agree that there is no credible path to rapid emissions reduction without carbon capture and storage,” Kanata vice-chair Erin Campbell said. “Kanata CarbonHub will significantly help Alberta meet its decarbonisation goals.”

Alberta recently issued its REOI and will use responses from that process to develop a request for full project proposals (RFPP), which is expected to be issued by December.

To manage the province’s carbon capture, utilisation and sequestration (CCUS) aspirations, the government has decided to issue carbon sequestration rights – pore space – through a competitive process that enables the development of storage hubs. 

“This approach will ensure that carbon capture and sequestration will be deployed in a responsible and strategic manner,” the government says. “It will be an effective way to avoid challenges associated with numerous, and potentially overlapping, sequestration proposals.”