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EDMONTON – The Government of Alberta is providing $2.8 million through Emissions Reduction Alberta for a $6.1-million front-end engineering and design study led by Varme Energy.

The facility would be the first to use carbon capture to turn municipal waste into clean electricity, a release said.

“Emissions Reduction Alberta is proud to provide provincial funding to this first-in-Canada project. The study is an important first step to realizing a large-scale municipal waste-to-energy facility with carbon capture and storage. This project not only reduces emissions, but also sets a new standard for how we provide clean, reliable energy from waste destined for landfills,” Emissions Reduction Alberta CEO Justin Reimer said in a statement.

The future facility will be built on Gibson Energy land within the Designated Industrial Zone in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland near Fort Saskatchewan with operations estimated to begin in 2027, the release said.

Solid waste from municipal landfills will be converted into electricity for the grid, with the captured carbon injected into one of Alberta’s carbon sequestration hubs. 

The facility is expected to capture and store about 185,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, the release said.

Varme Energy’s front-end engineering and design study is expected to be completed in December 2024 with construction set to begin in 2025.  

Provincial funding support is through the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction program and Varme Energy is working with Gibson Energy, the City of Edmonton and the Canada Growth Fund to advance the project.