Saskatchewan hopes a new partnership will help boost its development of carbon capture and storage technology.
BHP Billiton and SaskPower announced Sept. 10 that they will work to speed up worldwide de-velopment of the technology through lessons gleaned from the utility company’s Unit 3 Boundary Dam facility near Estevan, Sask.
The deal would see BHP Billiton build a knowledge centre in Regina to promote research and lower the cost and risk connected with new carbon capture and storage projects. The centre’s construction time frame, budget, location and size were not disclosed.
BHP Billiton chief commercial officer Dean Dalla Valle said in a statement that global progress has been too slow to combat climate change. He said industry must deploy a wide range of low emissions technology more quickly than the usual commercial time frames, which the Boundary Dam is suited for.
The retrofitted Unit 3 was officially opened last year and is the world’s first commercial-scale, coal-fired power plant equipped with carbon capture and storage technology.
