November 2009 issue
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DOING BUSINESS
Government Fleshes Out Fed Building Reno Plans
BY NORDAHL FLAKSTAD
Freelance Writer
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GLORY DAYS |
Alberta Infrastructure has unveiled additional plans for renovation of the Federal Building, located close to the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. Planned features for the project, scheduled for completion in the fall of 2011, include
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an outdoor skating rink with a view of the Legislature
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a new west entrance pavilion connecting the building to the Legislature grounds
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dining, retail and conference facilities
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a visitor information centre
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a gold rating under the trademarked Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, with a green roof, energy-efficient windows and a fully modern heating and cooling system
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a 650-stall underground parkade, eliminating the old surface parking lots.
The Alberta Government last year committed $200 million to refurbish the art-deco-style building. Designed in the 1930s and built in the 1950s, it has been vacant since 1989.
Carbon Capture Projects
Receive Government Dollars
The governments of Alberta and Canada will put $865 million toward the Quest Carbon Capture and Storage project in Fort Saskatchewan, a joint venture spearheaded by Shell. This represents the first funding actually awarded under a $2-billion Alberta Government program.
The two governments have also announced that they’ll contribute $779 million toward construction of one of the world’s first fully integrated carbon capture and storage facilities for a coal-fired power plant. This project is apparently unrelated to the funding program being used for Quest.
Eventually, the Quest project in Fort Saskatchewan will capture and inject underground up to 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 each year from the existing Scotford upgrader and an expansion. The Government of Alberta will contribute $745 million to Quest from its fund for carbon capture and storage. The federal government, meanwhile, will provide $120 million from its $650 million Clean Energy Fund.
Shell is the major partner with a 60 per cent interest. The other partners are Chevron Canada Ltd. and Marathon Oil Sands LP with 20 per cent each. Of three successful Alberta bidders for funding announced this summer, Quest is the first to receive funding.
The other announcement revealed that Ottawa will invest $343 million in Project Pioneer, west of Edmonton at the Keephills 3 power plant. Alberta will ante up $431 million over 15 years, plus $5 million for front-end engineering and design.
Project Pioneer is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by one million tonnes annually. The project will use Alstom’s post-combustion, chilled ammonia technology to capture CO2, which can then be transported for use in enhanced oil recovery and to a permanent geological storage site.
The power plant is jointly owned by TransAlta and Capital Power Corp.
Enbridge Reaches Agreement
On Gulf of Mexico Project
Enbridge Inc. has reached an agreement to construct and operate an oil pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico. The crude oil pipeline would be from the proposed Big Foot ultra deepwater development.
It would complement Enbridge’s previously announced plans to construct the Walker Ridge Gathering System, which will provide natural gas transportation for the proposed Chevron-operated Jack, St. Malo and Big Foot fields.
The new agreement is with Chevron Corp., and the U.S. subsidiaries of Norway’s StatoilHydro and Japan’s Marubeni Corp.
If successful, the new Big Foot Oil Pipeline would consist of about 65 km of 20-inch diameter pipe at depths of up to 5,900 feet, with the capacity to transport up to 100,000 barrels per day. Big Foot would deliver to a sub-sea connection on existing deepwater pipeline infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Enbridge is also acquiring a 20-megawatt solar energy project near Sarnia. First Solar Inc. has developed and is constructing the project, expected to be completed by year-end. It will be the largest photovoltaic solar energy installation in Canada and one of the largest in North America.
Under the terms of the agreement, First Solar is constructing the project under a fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction contract, using its thin-film photovoltaic technology. First Solar’s advanced thin film technology has been deployed in installations representing 1,000 MW in the U.S. and Europe.
Waste Heat Recovery Gets Warm Reception From Grant Program
The City of Edmonton and Strathcona County will work together to transfer heat from a city biofuels plant to a community-energy system in the county. Funding worth $7.45 million in Alberta Government grant money will go towards infrastructure for the project.
The project will benefit 1,600 homes in Sherwood Park’s Emerald Hills area. The funds come from Alberta’s share of the Canada ecoTrust for Clean Air and Climate Change, a federal fund established in 2007 to distribute $1.5 billion among the provinces and territories.
Suncor Resumes
Ethanol Expansion
Could this be a sign of a gathering economic recovery?
Suncor Energy Inc. is resuming expansion of its St. Clair Ethanol Plant near Sarnia, Ont. The $120-million project was earlier placed on hold as a result of a series of capital-spending rollbacks.
Now, it is scheduled to be completed in late 2010 or early 2011. The expansion will double the plant’s current ethanol production capacity to 400 million from 200 million litres per year.
Greengate Has
Wind in Mind For Six Sites
Greengate Power Corp. of Calgary plans to build a $350-million wind farm at Halkirk, 40 km east of Stettler. The project will include 100 turbines installed at a height of 80 metres. It is part of the company’s $4-billion plan to locate wind turbines at six Alberta sites.
EnCana to Seek Approval
For New In-Situ Project
EnCana Corp. will seek regulatory approval for an 80,000-to-120,000-bbl/d, steam-assisted in-situ oilsands project at Narrows Lake. The $2.4-billion, 50-50 partnership with ConocoPhillips would be located north of EnCana’s current Christina Lake steam project in northeastern Alberta.
Subject to shareholder approval in late November, EnCana’s oil assets will be transferred to a new sister company, Cenovus.
Ivanhoe Signs
Mongolian Deal
For Mammoth Mine
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. of Vancouver has signed a long-term investment agreement with the Government of Mongolia over what will likely be the world’s largest copper-and-gold mine. The deal establishes a framework for the construction and operation of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mining complex in Mongolia’s South Gobi region, 80 km north of the border with China.
An independent plan in 2005 forecasted average annual copper production in the first 10 years of operation would exceed one billion pounds and gold production on average would exceed 500,000 ounces per year.
In 2006 Rio Tinto agreed to a strategic partnership by investing in Ivanhoe and, through a technical committee, will jointly engineer, construct and operate the mine.
TransAlta Acquires
Canadian Hydro Developers
Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. has accepted a $1.6 billion buyout by TransAlta Corp., which has pursued the independent Calgary-based green-power producer for several months.
Formed by Calgary brothers John and Ross Keating, P.Eng., and Jack McCleary, P.Geol., Canadian Hydro grew from one, three-MW plant on the Belly River in Southern Alberta to encompass hydroelectric, wind power and biomass facilities in four provinces. It has net generating capacity of 694 MW of green power.
The acquisition makes TransAlta the largest independent green power producer in Canada, with 1,900 MW of renewable generating capacity.
Husky’s Tank
Topped Up
With Ethanol Bucks
Husky Energy Inc. has received $71.8 million through the federal government’s EcoEnergy Program. The funding will help Husky sustain ethanol production at its Lloydminster plant, amid uncertainty in feed grain markets.
TransCanada
Wins Bid For
Ontario Power Plant
The Ontario Power Authority has awarded TransCanada Corp. a 20-year energy supply contract. TransCanada will build, own and operate the 900-MW Oakville Generating Station in Oakville.
TransCanada expects to invest about $1.2 billion in the natural-gas-fired, combined-cycle plant, which is scheduled to start producing power by the end of 2013.
Meanwhile, a U.S. District Court has turned aside a challenge to plans by TransCanada for an oil pipeline from Hardisty, Alta., to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The court determined the Natural Resources Defense Council could not challenge a presidential permit authorizing the $12-billion pipeline.
Province Invests
In Land Development
In Fort McMurray
Relief is on the way for an Alberta centre with severe growing pains. Over the next five years, the Province of Alberta will invest more than $241 million to develop land next to Fort McMurray.
Of the total, $166 million will be used to complete a new residential development at Parsons Creek. The remaining $75 million will bring utilities and roads to the Saline Creek Plateau area to make future residential, commercial and industrial developments possible.
Phase One of Parsons Creek will cover 450 acres and will include more than 2,000 new homes for an estimated 6,500 residents. A full 20 per cent of the homes will be designated affordable, with rents at least 10 per cent below market rate.
Wood Buffalo Regional Mayor Melissa Blake termed the proposed spending “fantastic news for our
region.” In face of oilsands development, the region has been hard-pressed to provide affordable housing and access to services.
SNC-Lavalin
Wins Saudi Contract
SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a front-end engineering and project management services contract by Saudi Aramco for the Wasit Gas Development Program. The program will provide for the production and processing of up to 2.5 billion cubic feet per day of gas from the Aribiyah and Hasbah offshore, non-associated sour gas fields, to meet Saudia Arabian demand.
Diavik Diamonds
Cancels One Shutdown
The market situation has improved enough that Rio Tinto’s Diavik Diamond Mines has cancelled a winter shutdown at its Diavik mine in the Northwest Territories. The company originally planned a shutdown for Dec. 1 through Jan. 11.
Diavik President Kim Truter said: “There has been sufficient improvement in the market outlook to enable us to make this decision.”
Earlier this year, Diavik announced a series of responses to changes in market conditions, including a summer and a winter production shutdown.
Now an open-pit mine, Diavik plans to start underground production in early 2010. By 2012, open-pit mining will cease and Diavik will become an all-underground mine.
Amtech Aeronautical
Among Voucher Recipients
Amtech Aeronautical Ltd., which runs a Medicine Hat aeronautical engine test facility, was among 179 Alberta companies awarded vouchers totalling more than $5 million under the Alberta Innovation Voucher Pilot Program. Companies may qualify for innovation vouchers of up to $10,000 or $50,000 to cover up to 75 per cent of eligible project costs, including specialized technical and professional services.
Recipients must use vouchers within nine months with approved service providers, such as labs, fabrication centres and business development centres supporting innovation.
Forestry Waste
To Fuel
Drayton Generator
A Minnesota firm will build a new waste-to-energy plant in Drayton Valley. Otoka Energy Corp. will receive a $20-million grant from Alberta’s share of the Canada ecoTrust for Clean Air and Climate Change, Otoka’s Drayton Valley Energy Campus will convert 380,000 tonnes of wood waste into electricity each year. The project also received $5 million in July 2009 through the Biorefining Commercialization and Market Development Program, which is administered by Alberta Energy.
Stantec Wins Bid
For War Vet Project
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has selected Stantec to provide architecture and engineering services for a major new project at the Puget Sound Medical Center in Seattle. The project includes a 200,000-square-foot out-patient and research centre for medical care, a seismic upgrade of an existing hospital bed tower, and a multi-storey, 800-car parking garage. Cost estimate is US $223 million.