Last year, at a Starbucks in Country Hills, Calgary, Rob Lockwood, President of Convega Energy Ltd., walked through the doors to meet Andrew Bennett from Enerva Energy Solutions. He grabbed a coffee, got out his pen, and, to Andrew’s delight, signed up to be the first participant in ERA’s Strategic Energy Management for Industry (SEMI) program.

This innovation-first approach is not new for Rob and his wife, Linda. They founded Convega Energy 13 years ago and have grown the junior oil and gas company into a 70-well operation with five oil and gas processing facilities and a large natural gas pipeline network. Convega’s operations are based in Southeastern Alberta.

“It’s simple: I don’t like waste, and I like technology. I can see how tech benefits our facilities and the towns we service,” said Rob. “Our goal is to use new innovations to reduce emissions and become as energy efficient as possible.”

With support from the SEMI program, Convega hopes to install solar natural gas hybrid power generation at its legacy facilities to replace older, natural gas-fueled compressors.  The company has submitted four Facility Readiness Assessments to prepare for upgrades to four different sites.

Through the Capital Retrofits activity, Convega will convert one of its compressors from natural gas to electric, adding an Organic Rankine Cycle generator to transform heat into electricity. This change will allow the generator and compressor to run with electric power. The waste heat from their operations will also be repurposed to power a gas dehydration unit.

Convega aims to increase energy efficiency by 15% in its operations. In comparison to other junior oil and gas facilities, that’s an impressive number.

“For years we’ve had all these ideas about where to reduce energy in our operations,” said Rob. “That’s why I was interested in SEMI. After meeting up with Andrew over coffee, I thought this program would be the perfect fit for what we want to achieve.”

Quick Facts

• ERA’s SEMI program provides industrial and manufacturing facilities with funding support, expertise, and training in energy management.
• SEMI is a $50 million program, with funding provided by the Government of Alberta and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). It is designed to help the province’s industrial and manufacturing sectors increase competitiveness, improve energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Convega Energy Ltd. is a private Alberta company incorporated in 1987, engaged in the exploration for, and production of, oil and natural gas in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Convega’s operations are currently centred in Southeastern Alberta.