Alberta invests $55M to boost tech innovation, lower emissions

Alberta’s government is investing $55 million to help businesses develop new technologies that the province says will reduce emissions, lower costs, and create jobs.

The funding is being distributed into 15 different projects including Calgary’s Fish Creek wastewater treatment plant that is getting efficiency upgrades that have never been seen before in the province.

The province says $7.45 million in funding will help the city install a “second-in-Canada technology” to use thermal energy at the plant.

“(The investment) will enable the city to upgrade the Fish Creek plant to keep up with rapid population growth,” says chief operating officer of Emissions Reduction Alberta (ETA) Heather Stephens. “Their new system will capture thermal energy from treated effluent to meet the additional heating capacity needed for the new infrastructure at the plant.”

Other projects benefitting from the cash infusion are found in the newsprint, cement, dairy and forestry sectors, according to the province:

• $10 million to help Alberta Newsprint Company make best-in-class energy efficiency upgrades that will reduce costs and improve the mill’s competitiveness.
• $8.4 million to help Dairy Innovation West advance a new approach for developing concentrated milk products that can be transported with less energy and further processed into other dairy products, increasing the province’s milk-processing capacity
• $4 million to help Lafarge Canada explore using calcined clay in cement products, lowering the overall emission intensity of cement while maintaining strength
• $3.7 million to help Flash Forest Inc. advance a proof-of-concept that uses drones, AI-based site selection software and ecological science to speed up and improve tree planting and reforestation
• $2 million to help Merlin Plastics develop a commercial-scale operation that will divert hard-to-recycle plastics from landfills or incineration
• $700,000 to help TS-Nano Canada test a new product that will more effectively seal oil and gas wells, reducing potential methane leaks and reducing operational costs

In total, the projects are projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 120,000 tonnes annually, to over 390,000 tonnes by 2030 and over 2.2 million tonnes by 2050.

The investment is also expected to generate about 1,600 jobs and add 270 million to Alberta’s GDP.