With U.S. In Desperate Need of Tar Sands Oil, CCS Technology Should Get Big Boost (Part 3 of 3)
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Tar sands mining just may be the most environmentally destructive energy extraction or production process in the world, generating huge amounts of greenhouse gasses (GHG). But with the U.S. in desperate need of more Canadian tar sands oil to make up for expected losses in imports from Mexico and other countries over the next few years, some way is likely to be found to keep the expected rise in GHG as much under control as possible.
Thus investors should anticipate a huge increase in spending to develop carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology, which involves keeping carbon dioxide from getting into the air by storing it underground. The two biggest corporate winners could be French engineering giant Alstom SA and Canadian power generator TransAlta Corp., which are working together on a large scale CCS facility in Alberta that uses Alstom’s proprietary Chilled Ammonia Process. In April the president of Alstom’s power systems unit called Alberta a “priority” for development efforts.
Separately, TransAlta and TransCanada Corp. are funding a CCS project being undertaken by the University of Calgary. The poject currently involves assessing the potential to safely store up to 1,000 megatons of CO2.
Another company that could benefit from the general push for CCS is Norway’s Aker ASA, which owns 70% of the shares in Aker Clean Carbon, a company that’s developing CO2 capture projects. Aker Clean Carbon’s first project will be on Norway’s west coast, built in cooperation with the Norwegian government. Still another possible CCS winner could be NRG Energy Inc., which is working with privately-held Powerspan Corp. on a commercial demonstration of Powerspan’s proprietary CO2 capture technology.
Other companies that may be CCS winners could come out of research underway at Los Alamos National Laboratory on a process called “Green Freedom,” the purpose of which is to take captured CO2 and use it to make fuels for vehicles and aircraft.
