November 30, 2018
ERA Hosts CCUS Lessons Learned Workshop
Over 225 technology developers, industry insiders, investors, government employees and regulatory officials with an interest in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) attended Emissions Reduction Alberta’s latest Lessons Learned Workshop. The full-day, at-capacity event was held on Friday, November 30 at the Metropolitan Conference Centre in Calgary.
Panelists presented the business case for carbon capture and use, as well as the market potential of current and future technologies. They shared knowledge of commercial facilities and their operational experiences. Speakers also explored lessons learned in technology development and financing. Entrepreneurs drew on firsthand experiences implementing CCUS projects, from navigating policy and regulatory uncertainties to developing a range of revenue streams to choosing strategic partners and end users. The importance of government support to enable infrastructure was a key part of the discussions.
“The conversations at today’s event demonstrated that Alberta has already done some extraordinary things in the CCUS space. Clearly, there is no single silver bullet solution; further progress will require us to make choices on the technologies we will pursue,” said Steve MacDonald, ERA CEO. “Alberta’s strong regulatory, industrial, entrepreneurial and innovation infrastructures are the key ingredients for future success in scaling-up this vital and viable technology.”
The event featured keynote speaker Issam Dairanieh, Operating Partner at Ascent Capital Holdings. Drawing on over 30 years of experience, Dairanieh discussed global CCUS trends, commercial export potential of carbon-based products, the need for a circular carbon economy, and how these technologies will affect a low carbon future.
“Just like anything that is nascent, it needs some support at the beginning. As a community, our job is to identify technologies that can stand on their own two feet over time. You don’t want to be involved in a technology that will forever need incentives. The business case has to be there in order to scale-up,” said Dairanieh. “Making the world a better place is a great objective, but we have to show that we can do that in a commercially viable fashion.”
ERA’s Lessons Learned Workshops are a way to share insights from experts with those who can benefit from knowledge translation. The goal is to accelerate technology adoption by sharing insights from project proponents and industry leaders. To learn about upcoming workshops, funding opportunities, success stories, and more, please subscribe to the ERA email newsletter.