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Carbon capture facility reaches 2 million-tonne milestone of captured CO2

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Carbon capture facility reaches 2 million-tonne milestone of captured CO2

SNL Image

Pipes and tanks snake around the inside of a carbon capture and storage facility at the Boundary Dam Power Station in Estevan, Saskatchewan. The facility just surpassed 2 million tonnes of captured carbon since operations began in 2014.

Source: Associated Press

One of the first large-scale commercial carbon capture and storage facilities in North America reached a milestone with the capture of 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

SaskPower's Boundary Dam in Saskatchewan announced in a press release that it has surpassed 2 million tonnes since operations began in October 2014.

"With this milestone, the people of Saskatchewan can be proud that we are making a difference in a concrete way," said Saskatchewan Minister of Environment Dustin Duncan, who is responsible for the province-owned utility company. "The United Nations has said that [carbon capture and storage, or CCS] is essential to addressing climate change, and Saskatchewan is a global leader. It's a commitment to environmental sustainability that we are making to future generations."

SaskPower President and CEO Mike Marsh said Boundary Dam's Unit Three provides electricity to more than 100,000 customers.

"What's more, it's doing so with coal, and in a way that makes it one of the cleanest-burning fossil fuel units on Earth," he said.

According to the release, CCS is part of a strategy including an investment in renewables that will bring SaskPower's greenhouse gas emissions down 40% from 2005 levels by 2030.

Boundary Dam sells the captured carbon for use in enhanced oil recovery at nearby oilfields and injects any leftover carbon into a deep saline formation for storage.

Saskatchewan, Wyoming, North Dakota and Montana signed a three-year memorandum of understanding on carbon capture, use and storage in December 2017.

Shell's Quest CCS facility near Edmonton, Alberta, also recently surpassed more than 2 million tonnes of CO2 captured.