A Coaldale company is using provincial investment to help it turn cattle waste into renewable natural gas.
The Kasko Cattle Company project is part of a $28-million investment announced by the Alberta government. The funding is going toward six technology-driven projects across the province aimed at helping energy companies cut costs, reduce environmental impacts and remain globally competitive as Alberta works to expand production.
The provincial funding, delivered through the industry-funded Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction program and Emissions Reduction Alberta’s Industrial Transformation Challenge, will support projects focused on protecting pipelines, converting farm waste into energy, restoring well sites and further reducing methane emissions.
Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Grant Hunter said one benefit of the funding is that it helps move new technologies toward commercialization.
“I would say historically farmers have always been the quintessential entrepreneurs, but they’re quintessential risk-takers as well and so what they do is they take a look at how we can use less resources,” Hunter said. “They figure out how to be able to produce more using less. But again, that technology is not easy to be able to commercialize.”
Hunter said the Alberta government sees value in the projects and is working alongside innovators to help bring their ideas to market.
In a statement, Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean said Alberta’s economy has long been shaped by innovation and that the province continues to play a central role in Canada’s energy sector as global demand grows for responsibly produced energy.
The Coaldale project will use provincial support to move forward with a fully integrated renewable energy, carbon capture and carbon sequestration facility in partnership with Kasko Cattle and KCL Cattle companies. Company officials say the facility would combine renewable natural gas production from cattle manure with on-site carbon sequestration.
CEO Ryan Kasko said producing gas from manure is not new technology, but focusing specifically on cow manure at this scale is unique.
“It’s not being done and we have a high concentration of cow operations in this region, so it makes great sense to make that happen,” he said. “Then being able to further take the CO2 from that and sequester it is a very unique aspect.”
Kasko said he believes the planned facility would be unique in its integration of renewable natural gas production and carbon sequestration.
He said Alberta’s geology and existing gas infrastructure make the province well suited to support the project.
Other projects included in the announcement are located in Calgary, Yellowhead County and Leduc.
Individual investments range from about $625,000 to $12 million. The projects are expected to create roughly 1,000 jobs and generate an estimated $167 million in economic return by 2027. They are also projected to reduce about 260,000 tonnes of emissions by 2030.
