Episode 142 | Canadian Carbon | Delta CleanTech
As a former executive director of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) association, I’ll be the first to admit the biggest problem with CO2 capture is the cost. A “post-combustion” system on an existing coal plant can easily cost a billion dollars, or about $1.5 million per megawatt.
Canada’s Delta CleanTech is one company committed to bringing these costs down. They’ve developed a modular carbon capture system that can be easily assembled in the field and avoid much of the labor that drives these costs up (this is also being tried in the nuclear sector).
Jeff Allison is Delta’s President. He says Delta’s technology combines their modular innovation with a proven capture technology—amines—to provide reliable and cost effective solution. The Delta system also has a “reclaimer” system, which purifies the amines and keeps the system running efficiently.
In February, Delta CleanTech was tapped by Natural Resources Canada to develop a “CO2 costing and performance database.” The database will serve as a tool to evaluate technologies to be awarded part of $319 million in research and demonstration projects for CCS projects.
Jeff says the Canadian government is trying to establish the cost of capture these days, “so that when people send in applications, they will have in their own mind, what the cost of capture really is going to be from a commercial perspective.”
I asked Jeff about the climate for carbon capture in Canada. He says it’s a mix of carrot and stick. The grants and financial incentives to build and test new carbon capture technologies?—Carrot. A national carbon tax that will eventually hit $170 a ton?—Stick, big stick.
“All those factors coming together has created a perfect storm for us in Canada,” says Jeff, “whereby almost every big [carbon] emitter is looking to reduce their emissions, which has made our company very busy.”
I respected Jeff’s steadfast belief that fossil and carbon-based fuels have to have a place in our energy future. Through incentives, federal policy and new technologies, Canadian carbon could also become a valuable commodity.
“People that are saying we need to move towards these non-fossil fuels, I have to say, it’s not very practical,” says Jeff. “I think the solution is by not eliminating those fossil fuels but making them clean, that’s a different concept. There is technology, we have it right now, that will actually make them clean.”
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