(Deep Sky Labs)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

vacuuming the sky

Innisfail welcoming world’s first carbon removal innovation and commercialization centre

Aug 7, 2024 | 7:05 AM

Innisfail will soon be home to the world’s first carbon removal innovation and commercialization centre.

Canadian company Deep Sky Labs has chosen Innisfail for the project because they say the community is an emerging clean energy hub; the town is also home to a solar farm development and a future waste-to-energy plant.

The site will be operational this winter, and be located within a five-acre municipally-owned industrial park at 6015 35 Street.

Deep Sky says the facility — essentially a vacuum for the sky — will have the capacity to capture 3,000 tons of CO₂ per year, or 30,000 tons over a 10-year period, utilizing up to 10 different technologies. It will also have the capability of expanding.

The per year tonnage is the equivalent of 714 gas-powered vehicles, 337,572 gallons of gasoline consumed, or over 3.3 million pounds of coal burned.

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“I cannot overstate the significance of the world’s first carbon removal innovation and commercialization facility, and what this means for Canada and our planet at large,” says Damien Steel, Deep Sky CEO. “This project represents a world first and serves as a testing ground from which the nascent industry can grow into Canada’s multi-trillion-dollar enterprise. We’re in the business of scaling carbon removals, and this first facility represents a giant step forward for the health of our planet and our economy.”

(Deep Sky Labs)

According to Deep Sky, the first eight technologies will have full access to renewable power and carbon storage, enabling a life cycle analysis to ultimately produce verified carbon removal credits validated by third-party carbon registries.

They include Airhive, Avnos, Phlair (formerly Carbon Atlantis), Greenlyte, Mission Zero, NEG8 Carbon, Skyrenu, and Skytree. Together, the partners represent the world’s foremost CO2 carbon removal technologies, convening for the first time in Canada, the carbon removal capital of the world.

Deep Sky notes that a recent survey which they commissioned through Pollara Strategic Insights shows that 67 per cent of people asked in Calgary, 57 per cent of those asked in Edmonton, and 51 per cent from the rest of Alberta, agree that Canada should use carbon removal technology to help fight climate change. Twelve-hundred Albertans were surveyed.

“The Town of Innisfail is thrilled to work with Deep Sky and welcomes them to our community,” says Innisfail Mayor Jean Barclay.

“To have a company of this magnitude who is on the leading edge of carbon removal technology located in Innisfail is truly exciting for us. The selection of Innisfail by Deep Sky speaks volumes to our business readiness, our willingness to respond at a pace that is necessary in today’s business environment, and our vision for a new state-of-the-art industrial park.”

The facility will create many jobs, including 80 for the construction phase, and 15 for annual operations. Plus, it’s estimated the project will infuse more than $110 million into the community over 10 years.

(Deep Sky Labs)

The company, saying that this type of facility is a monumental step toward reversing climate change, plans to open more plants across Canada, which will create an estimated 1,000 construct jobs and 150 operations jobs.

If this infrastructure isn’t developed now, it won’t be here when we need it most, Deep Sky says.

Deep Sky notes several other companies are developing or have developed similar (not the same) types of facilities, including Climeworks, Carbon Engineering and Equatic. Deep Sky has other carbon removal efforts underway in Quebec with more to come.

More information is at deepskyclimate.com.

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