$46 MILLION TO SUPPORT EMISSIONS REDUCTION IN ALBERTA’S INDUSTRIAL SECTOR THROUGH ANNUAL INDUSTRIAL TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE

ERA, with funding from the Government of Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund is investing $46 million in 12 projects to reduce costs, create jobs, lower emissions, and decarbonize Alberta’s industrial landscape.

Funding ranges from $500,000 to $10 million and was open to applicants from across Alberta’s industrial and natural resource sectors, including petrochemicals, cement, agriculture, forest products, manufacturing, energy, and more.

Worth more than $131 million in public and private investment, funded projects showcase advancements in technology in key industries and include demonstrations and first-of-its-kind commercial projects that:

  • Reduce costs, emissions, water use, and tailings in oil sands mining;
  • Advance drone infrastructure for wildfire monitoring;
  • Improve oil and gas well sealing to cut methane leakage;
  • employing machine learning to monitor and reduce emissions in combustion equipment;
  • and more.

If successful, these projects are estimated to deliver annual GHG reductions of 118 thousand tonnes annually, cumulative reductions of over 390 thousand tonnes by 2030, and over 2.2 million cumulative tonnes by 2050. Projects are estimated to create over 1,300 person-year jobs of employment and more than $200 million in GDP for the province by 2027. 

THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS WERE SELECTED FOR FUNDING:

AIRmarket
ERA funding: $2,300,000 | Project Cost: $4,700,000
Location: Across Alberta

Enable Artificial Intelligence-equipped drones and required infrastructure for long-range operations that support wildfire monitoring, emergency response, and broader adoption of other potential practical use-cases across several sectors.

Alberta Newsprint Company
ERA funding: $10,000,000 | Project Cost: $25,600,000 
Location: Whitecourt, AB

Alberta’s first and only paper mill is conducting best-in-class energy efficiency upgrades to the papermaking process and equipment to deliver cost savings and emissions reductions while producing new, higher-grade products and improving the mill’s competitiveness.

City of Calgary
ERA funding: $7,450,000 | Project Cost: $14,900,000 
Location: Calgary, AB

Install a first-in-Alberta, second-in-Canada wastewater heat recovery facility to capture and utilize thermal energy at the Fish Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

CSV Midstream Solutions Corp.
ERA funding: $1,700,000 | Project Cost: $9,500,000 
Location: Grande Prairie, AB

Implement an industrial heat pump to capture waste heat and upgrade it for use onsite to increase efficiency; this is the first deployment of an industrial heat pump at a natural gas processing facility in Alberta.

DIW Buildings & Land Corporation
ERA funding: $8,400,000 | Project Cost: $22,800,000 
Location: Blackfalds, AB

Advancing a first-in-Alberta approach to increase the province’s milk processing capacity in response to the growing demand in Western Canada by developing a concentrated milk product that can be transported with less energy and further processed into dairy products.

Flash Forest Inc.
ERA funding: $3,700,000 | Project Cost: $7,400,000 
Location: Alberta (various)

Evolve and advance a proof of concept for drone-based tree planting technology by implementing AI-based site selection software, incorporating land-based techniques, and integrating additional tree species to maximize carbon sequestration.

Future Fields Cellular Agriculture and Research Ltd.
ERA funding: $4,100,000 | Project Cost: $22,700,000 
Location: Edmonton, AB

Develop a technology to produce proteins for pharmaceuticals and other applications without the need of using costly, energy-intensive, and inefficient bioreactors.

Lafarge Canada
ERA funding: $4,000,000 | Project Cost: $8,000,000 
Location: Exshaw, AB 

A project to use calcined clay as a key material in cement products, displacing a portion of emissions-intensive clinker production and lowering the overall emission intensity of Portland cement while maintaining the strength of the final material.

LAVA Energy
ERA funding: $500,000 | Project Cost: $4,100,000 
Location: Gordondale, AB 

Deploy a pilot heat engine and an advanced turbine at a Birchcliff Energy site to convert low- and medium-grade waste heat to emissions-free electricity.

NanoWater Tech Inc
ERA funding: $1,000,000 | Project Cost: $2,700,000 
Location: Lloydminster, AB

Pilot a made-in-Alberta customized nanofilter technology to improve the treatment of produced water in SAGD operations to reduce costs, energy use, and emissions.

TS-Nano Canada Inc.
ERA funding: $700,000 | Project Cost: $1,500,000
Location: Lloydminster, AB

Validate a new nano-modified polymer to increase the longevity and effectiveness of sealing oil and gas wells and reduce the need to service and re-seal, improving operational efficiency and reducing potential for methane leaks.

VL Energy
ERA funding: $2,240,000 | Project Cost: $4,700,000 
Location: Alberta (various) 

Install and demonstrate an advanced monitoring system that uses machine learning to monitor, predict, and reduce emissions in combustion equipment like combined heat and power systems.

APPROVAL PROCESS

Projects were selected through ERA’s competitive review process. A team of experts in science, engineering, business development, commercialization, financing, and greenhouse gas quantification conducted an independent, rigorous, transparent review overseen by a Fairness Monitor. Based on these experts’ recommendations, ERA’s Board of Directors made the final funding decision.

PROJECT LOCATION 

All projects supported through this Call required piloting, demonstrating, or deploying the technology within Alberta.

KNOWLEDGE SHARING 

All ERA funding recipients are required to produce a final outcomes report that is shared publicly for the broader benefit of Alberta. Funding recipients will be required to report on project outcomes, achievements, and lessons learned including GHG reductions, job creation, and other environmental, economic, and social benefits. 

STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT

The Call was open to projects involving technologies at the field test/pilot, commercial demonstration, or first-of-kind commercial deployment stage of development i.e.: targeting a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) range of approximately TRL 7-9+.

  • Field Test/Pilot: The technology or innovation is ready to be field-tested in an operational environment. Projects in this category include scale-up of prototypes to representative pilot scale and subsequent in-field testing of pilot units.
  • Commercial Demonstration: The technology or innovation is approaching the final commercial product, and representative systems have been built. Projects in this category include demonstrating near- or fully-commercial-scale systems in an operational environment.
  • First-of-Kind Commercial Deployment: The technology is ready for first-of-kind commercial deployment. Projects in this category will involve the design, construction, and operation of the technology in its final commercial form, intending to operate the technology for its full commercial life.

ABOUT THE CALL

Alberta’s industrial sector accounts for approximately two-thirds of the province’s greenhouse gas emissions. To meet its environmental objectives, the province must advance innovative solutions that promote transformational change across industries.

The Industrial Transformation Challenge is focused on supporting technology that reduces emissions and is not currently in widespread commercial use. The Challenge aims to unlock the potential for step-change emissions benefits across the province’s industrial sector, securing the global competitiveness of existing and emerging industries while creating jobs in Alberta.

Originally introduced in 2022, this competition has proven successful, with a strong pool of proposals and funded projects. As a result, it will now be an annual opportunity, opening each Spring.

Successful applicants are eligible for up to $10 million per project with a minimum request of $500,000. The maximum ERA contribution to a single project will be no more than 50 per cent of the project’s eligible expenses.

Innovators, technology developers, industrial facility owners and operators, industrial associations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), research and development organizations, universities, not-for-profit organizations, government research labs, and individuals were invited to apply.

Partnerships were encouraged to help attract and retain highly skilled workers, increase Alberta’s innovation capacity, engage local communities, and leverage complementary resources. Applicants were encouraged to partner with Alberta’s post-secondary and research institutions, Indigenous communities, co-operative organizations, and municipalities where they can.

Click the links below for more details:  

The Call is not limited to any particular focus area or technology. The following list provides a non-exhaustive set of example technologies that ERA believe could represent compelling opportunities in this annual Call:

  • Agricultural and Forestry Innovation
    • Improved nutrient and feed management
    • Novel fertilizers
    • Detection, monitoring, measurement, and/or abatement of methane emissions from agriculture/forestry operations
    • Novel use of sensors, robotics, and software for smart farming techniques
    • Novel tillage, seeding, and harvesting techniques
    • Advanced genetics and omics for crops and livestock
    • Land use management practices
    • Value-added novel bioproducts (e.g., from forest residues or crops)
  • Fuel switching and low-carbon heat
    • Onsite deployment of geothermal, solar thermal, nuclear, clean hydrogen, or bioenergy at industrial facilities (i.e., behind the meter, novel generation)
    • Process electrification (e.g., electric boilers, industrial heat pumps, separation/purification, microwave/infrared technologies, etc.)
    • Onsite deployment of energy storage including thermal energy storage
  • Novel industrial processes
    • New chemistries for cement (incl. novel clinker substitutes), fertilizer, plastics, etc.
    • Novel oil and gas extraction, processing, and refining (conventional, oil sands, etc.)
    • Clean feedstocks (e.g., hydrogen, biogenic, waste, etc.) for manufacturing and chemicals
    • Novel refrigeration technologies
    • Non-thermal processing
    • Novel industrial water treatment and waste management
  • Novel approaches for reduction/elimination of methane emissions (e.g. fugitive, vented, diffuse, etc.)
  • Major industrial facility upgrades in support of emissions reductions
  • Development of advanced materials production, manufacturing, and/or recovery sectors
    • Critical minerals (e.g., lithium, vanadium, etc.)
    • Energy materials (e.g., supply chains for batteries, electrolyzers, supercapacitors, superconductors, etc.)
    • Hydrocarbons beyond combustion (e.g., bitumen derived carbon fibre)

ABOUT EMISSIONS REDUCTION ALBERTA (ERA): 

ERA is funded by the Government of Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Regulation. For over 15 years, ERA has been investing the revenues from the carbon price paid by large final emitters to accelerate the development and adoption of innovative clean technology solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, ERA has committed over $954 million toward 296 projects valued at over $7.4 billion, which are helping to reduce GHGs, create competitive industries, and lead to new business opportunities in Alberta. These projects are estimated to deliver cumulative reductions of 36 million tonnes of CO₂e by 2030 and 102 million tonnes of CO₂e by 2050.

ABOUT TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION REGULATION 

The Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Regulation is at the core of emissions management in Alberta. The TIER system implements Alberta’s industrial carbon pricing and emissions trading system. TIER assists industrial facilities in discovering innovative methods to reduce emissions and invest in clean technology, allowing them to remain competitive and save money.