UK-based global renewable energy company Low Carbon has entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Deep Sky, the Quebec-based carbon removal project developer.
The 10-year PPA will see 10 GWh (gigawatt hours) of renewable energy per annum from Low Carbon’s Lethbridge 1 solar project in Canada to power Deep Sky Alpha, the company’s first facility in Alberta. CO2 captured will be injected 2km underground.
The solar project will generate enough clean electricity to power 100% of Deep Sky Alpha’s operations.
Marco Verspuij, Head of Power Management at Low Carbon, expects that PPAs will continue to play a major role in helping drive the renewables revolution in the coming years as organisations explore innovative finance options that help reduce emissions from their energy usage and decarbonise the wider economy.
Damien Steel, Deep Sky CEO, said securing renewable power for novel carbon dioxide removal projects is “incredibly difficult”.
Alpha’s premise is to test different direct air capture (DAC) concepts simultaneously, with space to accommodate up to 14 pilots.
Multiple DAC technologies will be deployed at the facility, sitting side-by-side with standardised instrumentation for the collection of operational data, whereupon Deep Sky software will track and benchmark it to accelerate R&D.
Alpha, located within five acres of a municipality-owned industrial park, aims to remove up to 30,000 tonnes of CO2 from the air over a 10-year period.
Its balance of plant system includes a CO₂ purification and liquefaction system that can accept as low as 85% CO2 streams and liquefied CO2 is then transported by truck to a sequestration site where it will be injected.
Deep Sky is pursuing a simple tech model. “While many venture capital firms are looking for CDR technologies that can produce other products to diversify their revenue streams, we are going against the grain and solving for tech that can capture CO2. Too many byproducts can lead to offtake complexities and logistics of getting byproducts to market,” it states.
Earlier this year, Low Carbon announced a 10-year PPA with Lloyds Banking Group for 50 GWh of renewable energy from two of its UK solar farms, reflecting a growing trend of organisations seeking direct contracts with renewable energy generators as part of their climate change commitments.
