Entropy Inc. has announced a $127-million investment plan for Phase 2 of its Glacier carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project in Alberta which will quintuple carbon capture capacity from Phase 1.

Projected to be operating at the Glacier Gas Plant in Saddle Hills County by Q2 2026, Phase 2 involves installing CCS equipment at nine gas-fired engines and one gas-fired power generation turbine. The total carbon dioxide (CO2) capture capacity will be 160,000 tonnes per year, compared to 32,000 tonnes per year for Phase 1.

The project is expected to be eligible for the CCS federal investment tax credit of up to 50 per cent and an upcoming Alberta carbon capture incentive program of 12 per cent, Entropy said in a release.

A 15-megawatt gas-fired turbine that will capture approximately 90 per cent of the CO2 and sell the generated power to Advantage Energy Ltd. in a 15-year power purchase agreement is also planned to accompany Phase 2.

Based in Calgary, Entropy is a CCS project developer that received a $300-million investment from Brookfield in 2022, and a $200-million investment from the Canada Growth Fund that included a 15-year carbon credit offtake agreement in 2023.

“That is something that has never been done before,” Erik Petursson, vice-president of policy and carbon markets at Entropy, told Sustainable Biz Canada about the offtake agreement in a January interview.

Phase 2 of Glacier

Entropy uses CCS technology based on research from the University of Regina’s Clean Energy Technologies Research Institute. The process can capture between 90 per cent and 98 per cent of the CO2, Petursson said.

The CO2 is sent to a saline aquifer approximately two kilometres underground. “Entropy will compress, transport and dispose of the captured CO2 in an Entropy-owned disposal well,” the company says.

Entropy completed an injectivity test at a CO2 disposal well that is already storing CO2 from Phase 1 of Glacier. The well's initial capacity has been set at up to three million tonnes per year.

Investment for Phase 2 will cover the equipment, compression, transportation and storage wells. Three-fourths of the revenue from Phase 2 will be underpinned by the carbon credit offtake agreement with the Canada Growth Fund, and the remainder by the power purchase agreement with Advantage.

The 15-megawatt gas-fired turbine will be installed for $47 million. It will provide the energy and heat for the Glacier gas plant and Entropy’s CCS equipment. By installing the turbine, existing generators can be shut down, further reducing CO2 and methane emissions, Entropy says.

Entropy will also be jointly developing a data centre, powered by gas-fired turbines, that will also have its CO2 captured and sequestered.

Entropy’s expansion

Petursson told Sustainable Biz Canada Entropy was readying to expand outside Alberta. Entropy has revealed it is continuing engineering design work on “several” projects in Alberta and two in the U.S.

The goal for the U.S. projects is to tap into funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, he said. In Canada, Petursson also named Saskatchewan and Ontario as potential areas of operation.

The company has set a target to reach one million tonnes of captured carbon per year in Canada over the next two to three years. It also hopes to eventually capture 10 million tonnes of carbon from projects globally per year.