Canada: Province of Alberta awards $58M for natural gas innovations

Canada: Province of Alberta awards $58M for natural gas innovations

Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) announced 20 technology innovations will receive funding from the Government of Alberta through ERA’s Natural Gas Challenge. The agency is committing $58.4 million for these projects worth $155 million. Funding for ERA’s challenges comes from the carbon price paid by Large Final Emitters in Alberta through the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund.

“Today’s announcement by the Government of Alberta supports investment attraction, job creation, and economic growth. Some projects will have an immediate impact by improving the performance of the natural gas sector’s existing operations and others are accelerating transformative opportunities, like hydrogen production, that can change the face of the industry,” said Steve MacDonald, CEO, ERA.

The Natural Gas Challenge was launched in October 2019 and was open to projects involving technologies at the pilot, demonstration, or first-of-kind commercial deployment stages. ERA’s selection committee reviewed 117 submissions and of these, 20 projects were selected based on their potential to unlock innovation across Alberta’s natural gas value chain, from production to the end consumer.

NGV-related projects selected include:

ATCO and Future Fuel Renewable Natural Gas
Company: ATCO Gas and Pipelines Ltd.
Total project value: $15,900,000 | ERA commitment: $7,900,000
First-of-its-kind commercial demonstration to produce renewable natural gas to be sold and used within the province in CNG fleet vehicles and commercial applications.

Advanced Dual-Fuel System Commercial Demonstration
Company: Innovative Fuel Systems
Total project value: $2,800,000 | ERA commitment: $1,200,000
Commercial validation of technology that allows heavy duty truck engines to displace up to 50% of their diesel with cleaner burning natural gas.

“We’re very pleased to have the support of ERA in the final steps of commercial validation of our technology. Working with ERA and Westcan will help us showcase our technology’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the heavy-duty trucking industry, while also allowing the industry to significantly cut fuel costs,” commented Leland Oberst, President and CEO, Innovative Fuel Systems.

If successful, these technology innovations will lead to cumulative greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions of almost one million tons of CO2e by 2030—equivalent to the GHG emissions from 750,000 passenger vehicles driven for one year. It is anticipated these projects will also deliver approximately 760 new jobs.

https://www.ngvjournal.com/s1-news/c1-markets/canada-province-of-alberta-awards-58-million-for-natural-gas-innovations/

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