Carbon capture and sequestration | Montrealer Deep Sky opts for Alberta

It is towards Alberta that Deep Sky – which is partly financed by the Quebec government – ​​is turning to lay the foundations of its ambitious carbon capture and storage project, we have learned The Press. The young company assures that it will return to build in Quebec in the not too distant future.

After confirming the information on Thursday, the co-founder and chairman of the board of directors, Frédéric Lalonde, explained that it was mainly regulatory reasons that prompted the Montreal company to opt for Western Canada.

“Seismic mapping has already been carried out in Alberta and this province already has legislative protocols to regulate the storage of CO₂ “, he explains, in a telephone interview.

In the Calgary region, Deep Sky is seeking to recruit, among others, a manager with “experience” in construction as well as site directors. Their mandate: to supervise the development of “state-of-the-art direct capture facilities in the air as well as in the ocean”.

The start of this pilot site is planned for this year, underlines Mr. Lalonde, who is also the co-founder of the travel application Hoppervalued at several billion dollars.

“We should receive around fifteen (carbon storage) machines,” explains the businessman. The first should arrive around October. We will have neither the legislative framework nor the seismic portrait here. The Quebec government is working rigorously, but it is not yet in place. »

Still at the beginning

Deep Sky wants to deploy the best carbon capture technologies in the air and ocean before sequestering it underground. The objective is to eliminate atmospheric carbon by billions of tonnes. This technology still needs to prove itself, particularly in terms of its ability to be deployed on a large scale as well as its financial viability.

Investissement Québec (IQ) – the financial arm of the Quebec state – contributed 25 million to the round of 75 million carried out by Deep Sky last fall. The operation was jointly led by Brightspark Ventures and Whitecap Venture Partners. OMERS and the Climate Technology Fund of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) also participated.

The Legault government is aware of Deep Sky’s short-term plans. In a statement, the office of the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, affirms that Quebec is working on a “regulatory framework to be able to ensure that it benefits from federal tax credits on carbon capture”.

“The subsequent phases of the Deep Sky project will be deployed in Quebec,” it is argued.

Currently, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia are the only provinces where carbon storage expenses are eligible for the federal tax credit.

Still running

Deep Sky nevertheless remains active in Quebec. It prepares the ground to find out if Quebec’s subsoil is suitable for burying CO₂. To find out for sure, the young company will carry out seismic imaging in the Bécancour region, in Center-du-Québec. These tests should be completed next month.

It was the Géostack firm that was selected by Mr. Lalonde’s company. The data will be offered to academia, he adds.

Deep Sky is also interested in Thetford Mines. The company is combining its efforts with Exterra Solutions Carbone, which has developed a sequestration system in mining residues to eliminate CO₂.

Read “Important acceptability test for Deep Sky”