Carbon capture partnership

Alstom has joined with Canadian power company Transalta to construct a carbon-dioxide capture and storage (CCS) demonstration facility at one of Transalta’s coal-fired power stations.

The facility, named Project Pioneer, has received more than €500m (£455m) of funding from the Canadian and Alberta governments and is expected to have enough capacity to store one million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Project Pioneer will be located at the Keephills 3 power plant, a joint venture between Transalta and Capital Power.

It will use Alstom’s Chilled Ammonia Process to capture CO2 emissions.

According to Alstom, the process is a potentially lower-cost solution for CCS compared with existing methods.

Philippe Joubert, president of Alstom Power, said: ‘The Canadian government’s choice of Alstom and Transalta confirms the recognition of Alstom’s technology leadership in the capture of CO2.

‘The significant size of this project demonstrates that we are no longer in the testing phase, but are ready for commercialisation.

‘The lessons learned from Project Pioneer, as well as other carbon capture and storage projects worldwide, will allow Alstom to answer to its engagement to commercialise its carbon-capture technology.’

The project is expected to be the first in the world to capture and store CO2 at this scale, as well as being the first to have its own integrated underground-storage system.

Alstom said that the project was the last major step required to commercialise its CCS process from 2015 onwards.