EPCOR Power Generation is to build Canada’s first low-CO2 IGCC power plant in Genesee, Alberta. The demonstration plant, with an installed capacity of approximately 270 MW, is scheduled to come on line in 2015 and will be designed to capture approximately 85 % of its CO2 production, to be used for enhanced oil recovery in existing oil fields.
In the first project phase, Siemens will provide the process and basic engineering design for the gasification island based on its SFG-500 coal gasifier. Following completion of the front-end engineering design, EPCOR intends to enter into an agreement with Siemens to supply the gasification reactor and components of the feed system. It is Siemens’ first such order in Canada, and the first time its gasifier technology will be used in a full-scale IGCC project. The Alberta Energy Research Institute, Natural Resources Canada and EPCOR have each contributed $11 million to the $33 million FEED project.
Within the framework of an action plan to mitigate climate change, Alberta Province recently announced a comprehensive investment programme to finance technologies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There are provisions for the investment of two billion Canadian dollars purely for the promotion of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects.
