GHD forms CCUS team to support Alberta Carbon Grid

Image courtesy ACG.

International consulting engineering firm GHD has established a new team dedicated to carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). The team will lead the design and implementation of the Alberta Carbon Grid (ACG), reportedly the largest CCUS project anywhere in the world.

Led by Heath F. Nevels, the multidisciplinary team includes engineers and geoscientists from the oil and gas sector. They will explore and exploit reservoirs for the permanent storage of carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is seen as an important step in meeting emission reduction targets and ensuring a low-carbon future.

“CCUS technology is critical to the clean-energy transition,” says Nevels. “As green energy sources evolve, the world cannot immediately shut off carbon-rich sources. A transitional period will be required until a complete break can occur. CCUS allows for the mitigation of excess carbon to bring output to a minimum.”

In Alberta, the provincial government is leasing pore space to store CO₂. GHD has helped conduct evaluations and testing for the Industrial Heartland ACG—a collaboration between TC Energy and Pembina Pipeline—to determine its suitability for sequestration (see image below). As the technical provider developing the ACG’s area-of-interest appraisal plan, the team may support subsurface modelling, seismic work, drilling, conceptual monitoring, measurement and verification plan development.

The CCUS industry has been capturing CO₂ since the 1920s and injecting it into oil reservoirs since the 1970s. Today, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 21 commercial CCUS projects are operating globally, including 18 in North America, with a concentration in Alberta.

“CCUS has matured from novelty to commercial viability,” says Tej Gidda, GHD’s global ‘future energy’ leader. “We have built a team of talented oil and gas industry veterans who are the driving force behind this new capability for GHD.”

WSP in Canada has also contributed to planning the ACG project. Image courtesy ACG.